Should I move away with him?

Hello everyone, I am new to this forum. This will be a bit of a long post, so please bear with me.

The situation is that I have been in a stable, committed and loving relationship with a man for 10 months now (I am 23 and he is 31). We live in the same city (not together), but none of us are originally from this area. I moved here to go to university five years ago, and he moved here for university 12 years ago.

I graduated from my course a few months ago, and now I am in a bit of a strange limbo-state. I have a full time job, but I don't see myself working in that place a year or two from now. Basically I want to do some more courses, and I have decided that a distance-learning will be the best option for me. I am planning to start the course by April at the latest, and I will be working while studying, and this should take about a year. I am not really too fussed about what sort of job I have while studying, as it will only be for about a year, as long as it pays the bills.

Since we started dating, my boyfriend has said that he wants to find a new job as his current job is making him very stressed and unhappy. A few months ago he said that he feels that the options are a bit limited in the town we currently live in, and that he thinks he should start looking outside of this city. He says the only thing that makes him a bit reluctant to move is that he has all his friends here, and that he feels settled.

As for me, I feel like I would be okay with moving somewhere else at this point in my life. Not only have I finished the course I was studying for here, in addition to that many of my closest friends here have moved away as well. So when he told me that he wanted to look for jobs elsewhere, I asked him what that might do to our relationship. He said that he loves me very much and can see himself being with me in 5-10 years, and that, if he found a job somewhere else, he would ask me if I would want to move to that place. If I said no, he would reconsider the job offer. He also said that he expects me to do the same; if I find a job somewhere else, I should make him a factor in the decision (which I would).

Now, I brought the subject up again a few weeks ago. I told him that while I would be happy with moving somewhere else, but that I might not be able to straight away as I would have to apply for jobs in that area as well. He said that is fine, as many couples have to spend a few months apart while in the process of relocating.

Now, he is still in the same job, as he has not been actively applying for other jobs. In the meanwhile, I have been doing lots of thinking about my position in this situation. I can honestly say that I would not mind one bit moving to another city with him, but I need to be sure that he really wants to commit to me.

If we are to stay in this city, I would ideally like to be engaged before moving in together. So today, when speaking to him on the phone and we got to talk about his job searching, I said to him that if we do end up moving in together, we don't have to move in together straight away, but maybe live in separate flats for a few months before eventually taking the big step of moving in together. He said that 'from a practical point of view', it would be better if we moved in together in the same flat, if we were to move away to be together. I asked him if he thinks that our relationship is strong enough for that, if he were to find a job within the next two or three months. He said "Yes, i don't see why not".

Basically, the reason why I worry about my position in all of this, is that he seems to be a bit reluctant to discuss this properly. I told him today that I am worried that he now feels pressured to 'bring me along' if he moves elsewhere, and he told me that he will not do that unless he wants to. I asked him if it would make him happy if I did that, as it would make me happy. He said "Yes, of course it would".

I have now decided to not mention the subject until he brings it up again. The question is, is it wise to move away with him at this point? As I have said, it would certainly make me happy, but I need to be sure that it is a good idea. The option is to have a long-distance relationship for a few months before making a decision, which I don't really want as I have had a bad experience with that in the past.

What do you guys think?