News Room : Nikki Glaser becomes the latest celebrity to flee LA for ‘relaxed’ life in her hometown

Nikki Glaser is among a long list of high-profile stars who have moved out of Los Angeles in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The A-list comedian, 40, made the big decision to return to her hometown of St. Louis, Missouri in 2022 after living a fast-paced Hollywood lifestyle for several years.

The early stages of the move were documented on the E! reality series Welcome Home Nikki Glaser?, which featured her parents EJ and Julie Glaser.

And now, four years later, Glaser is reflecting on leaving Los Angeles behind and how she prefers her ‘relaxed’ life in St. Louis.

She did so while promoting her new comedy special Good Girl, which was filmed in St. Louis, on Wednesday’s episode of Live with Kelly and Mark.

Host Mark Consuelos asked Glaser about what it was like going ‘home’ to shoot the special.

Nikki Glaser has joined a long list of high-profile stars who have moved out of Los Angeles in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic; seen in March 2026

‘I live in St. Louis,’ she replied, as per a transcript by PEOPLE. ‘I moved back to St. Louis after Covid and kind of just got away from it all and stayed there.’

Good Girl was taped at the Fabulous Fox Theatre and Glaser shared that the audience was filled with her real-life friends and neighbors from St. Louis.

‘Lots of people from high school, people from my pilates class, my self-tan lady from the strip mall. But it was fun,’ she said, before jokingly adding, ‘It’s fine that my childhood dentist knows about my sex life now. I guess that’s appropriate.’

Also present were her devoted parents.

This is not the first time since her big 2022 move that Glaser has spoken about why she chose St. Louis over Los Angeles.

Last summer, Glaser appeared on St. Louis on the Air, where she explained that living in major cities like Los Angeles and New York City is often about ‘chasing status.’

‘When I’m on both of the coasts, it’s like constantly comparing yourself, and everyone’s just really chasing that status,’ she said.

‘Here [in St. Louis], it just feels a bit more relaxed, and I get back to what’s important: having a good time and going out to eat.’

She described St. Louis as being a place where social media follower counts, accolades and having famous friends ‘doesn’t matter.’

‘That’s not here, and that’s not what people value here. And it just recalibrates me.’

She also said that moving back has allowed her to ‘focus on my family while they’re still around and healthy, and want to hang out with me.’

While Glaser calls St. Louis ‘home,’ she was actually born in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The A-list comedian, 40, made the big decision to return to her hometown of St. Louis, Missouri in 2022 after living a fast-paced Hollywood lifestyle for several years; Glaser seen outside her childhood home in 2020

‘I moved back to St. Louis after Covid and kind of just got away from it all and stayed there,’ Glaser said on Wednesday’s episode of Live with Kelly and Mark; seen in January 2021 in St. Louis

Her parents moved her and her younger sister Lauren to Missouri when they were young children.

Glaser spent most of her childhood in Kirkwood, which is a suburb of St. Louis.

In a 2025 interview with FirstAlert4, Glaser’s father EJ shared that she spent much of her early comedy career in Missouri after getting her college degree in Colorado and following a year-long stint in Los Angeles trying to make it big.

‘She worked out of our house while driving all over the Midwest to do comedy,’ he recalled. ‘Her work ethic is just amazing. I’m so proud of her.’ 

Glaser landed her first-ever stand-up special in 2016 after years of grinding in the comedy scene.

Since then, she has become one of the top names in comedy with a reported $10 million net worth.

She has served as host of the Golden Globe Awards for the last two years and is already set to host the 2027 ceremony. 

Glaser is currently shooting a new movie directed by Eva Longoria and starring Kim Kardashian and more big names, titled The Fifth Wheel.

Last summer, Glaser appeared on St. Louis on the Air, where she explained that living in major cities like Los Angeles and New York City is often about ‘chasing status’; seen hosting the Golden Globes in January 

‘Here [in St. Louis], it just feels a bit more relaxed, and I get back to what’s important: having a good time and going out to eat,’ she said; Glaser with her father EJ Glaser in St. Louis in 2020

Glaser’s move out of Los Angeles has become a common thing amongst top celebrities over the last six years amid high taxes and crime rates in California following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Glaser’s comedy peer Joe Rogan famously moved out of ‘overcrowded’ Los Angeles in 2020 and now lives in a lakefront mansion in Austin, Texas with his family.

‘I want to go somewhere in the center of the country… somewhere you have a little more freedom. I think where we live right here in Los Angeles is a little overcrowded…,’ he said on his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, prior to the move.

‘I think it’s exposing the fact that it’s a real issue when you look at the number of people that are catching COVID because of the overpopulation issue.

‘When you look at the traffic, the economic disparity, the homelessness problem… I think there are too many people.’

In April 2022, actor Mark Wahlberg moved himself, his wife and their children to income tax-free Nevada for a ‘better life’ after living in Beverly Hills for more than a decade.

He put his astonishing 12-bedroom, 20-bathroom Beverly Hills mansion on the market for $87.5 million and it sold for $55 million.

‘I would love to see us building studios, creating jobs and just diversifying the economy,’ Wahlberg previously told CNBC about the move to Nevada.

‘I think there’s so much more opportunity to be created here. There’s so much growth and so much potential, it’s a wonderful opportunity for everybody to prosper.

‘I moved to California many years ago to pursue acting and I’ve only made a couple of movies in the entire time that I was there.’

Oscar-winner Hilary Swank put her $10.5 million Los Angeles home in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood on the market in 2021 after moving to Colorado with her family during the pandemic.

Glaser’s comedy peer Joe Rogan famously moved out of ‘overcrowded’ Los Angeles in 2020 and now lives in a lakefront mansion in Austin, Texas with his family; seen in 2025

In April 2022, actor Mark Wahlberg moved himself, his wife and their children to income tax-free Nevada for a ‘better life’ after living in Beverly Hills for more than a decade; seen on April 16, 2026

Oscar-winner Hilary Swank put her $10.5 million Los Angeles home in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood on the market in 2021 after moving to Colorado with her family during the pandemic; seen in 2022 

Josh Brolin is another A-lister who chose to leave Los Angeles behind in 2020 as he snapped up a $3.5 million home in Atlanta, Georgia, where his wife Kathryn Boyd Brolin, 38, is from; seen in 2025

She previously told the Wall Street Journal that her and her family live in a ‘nice ranch now.’

Swank also confirmed that she officially moved to Colorado when California went into COVID-19 lockdown.

Josh Brolin is another A-lister who chose to leave Los Angeles behind in 2020 as he snapped up a $3.5 million home in Atlanta, Georgia, where his wife Kathryn Boyd Brolin, 38, is from.

Explaining why they had moved from LA to her hometown, Kathryn said the family had ‘decided to skip out on our beloved Cali and move across the country,’ but went on to say that they ‘will be back.’ 

At the same time of purchasing their Atlanta residence, the couple also bought a $1.1 million property in California’s Simi Valley, which is an affluent community in Ventura County.