Linus spent his formative years and early career in Helsinki, Finland, where he attended university and developed the Linux kernel. He remained in Helsinki during the early stages of Linux development.

Linus moved to Santa Clara, California, to work for Transmeta. His employment required him to relocate to Silicon Valley, a hub for technology companies.

After leaving Transmeta, Linus relocated to Portland, Oregon. He moved to work on the Linux kernel full-time through the OSDL/Linux Foundation. He continues to reside in Portland, Oregon.

Linus has frequently traveled internationally to attend conferences, meet with developers, and participate in events related to Linux and open-source technology. He is often invited as a keynote speaker.