<prompt> Human: Hey, rpersonalfinance. I know you guys get a lot of advice threads, so Ill try to keep this one brief and detailed.Right now Im living with my parents in a shitty little town in northwest New Mexico. Ive been in this state all my life and I can tell you it is objectively horrible. Theres not a lot of meaningful work, everybody is depressed, the culture is unapologetically redneckwhite-and-other-assorted-shades-of-trash, and its just not a good environment for me.I moved out of the town for about two years to attend school once Id graduated high school, but the college I was attending closed down due to what Ill politely describe as a mismanagement of funds. ... It was an art school. None of the credits are transferable, and Im not interested in attending another University. As a result of the closure, I had to move back in with my parents.Right now, I am 600 in credit debt. The school loans come out to something like 10,000, and those will need to start being paid soon since Im no longer in school.I work as a sleep technician in a lab here in town. I get paid 12 and hour, 12 hour night shifts, three nights a week. Its not a killing, but in my position at age 20, Im grateful for it.Recently Ive been discussing the idea of getting out of this horrible state with some former schoolmates of mine. They have a lease on an apartment in the suburbs of Chicago and want me to go there with them. I find this to be a dream opportunity. Illinois has always been a place Ive wanted to be, and I feel like I may finally find a community of people who I can amiably interact with in a city like Chicago.That being said, there is some trouble. Im basically living paycheck to paycheck right now, slowly lying off the credit debt. At this rate Ill have it gone by the end of this year. The school loan debt, Im not sure about. I never signed anything for it, my parents kind of handled all the paperwork, so Im not sure when Ill be responsible to start paying on it, but I want to start as soon as possible.In regards to where I currently live, its been deteriorating my mental state for as long as Ive been here, basically my whole life. Everything is depressing, outside all there is to see is sun-bleached sand, oil derricks, and white pick-up trucks with Confederate flags waving behind them. Im on a bunch of different medication just to live here without totally imploding. I want to be gone from this place, yesterday.My question to you is, what the Hell do I do? I make about 1,200 a month working at the lab. I have no work lined up in Chicago and have signed an agreement with my current employer that I wont work for any other sleep labs for two years. My goal is to be out of this state and living with reasonable accommodations with my proposed housemates as soon as possible, preferably by the end of 2018. How much should I have saved up when I head out there? What should I be prepared for? Do I need to feel bad about moving away from my parents again? What are my chances of surviving in the big city as a small fry from a hick town?Thank you all for reading this, it really means a lot.  <response>: You need a buffer or emergency fund to move if you will be doing so without a job lined up. But dont be so sure you can start job hunting from a distance. In terms of jobs, dont be so sure that you cant get a job at a sleep clinic. See if you can get a free half hour consult with a lawyer or visit a pro bono clinic with your employment contract. In many jurisdictions, a non compete provision is unenforceable unless its reasonable geographically and time wise. New Mexico appears to have similar principles. A 2 year non compete that applies nation wise as opposed to within a reasonable distance is pretty extreme likely to be unreasonable for a low level employee, and least in my jurisdiction. 