Best Cities For Remote Workers In Search Of A Temporary Home

Before relocating for remote work, check out the best cities for remote workers. Some cities are known to have the internet reliability, cost of living, climate, and amenities that meet the needs of work-from-home employees and contractors. There are many guides that offer the data you need to choose a location.

If you work at home, you may adapt your surroundings to make them suitable for work. However, if you are on the lookout for a place to settle that has the top amenities for remote workers, you might want to relocate to one of the best cities for remote workers.

First, make sure you know the facts about the legality of working far from home. Some states require employers to have business licenses where their people work, while others have laws that tax employers as well as employees working in a state. You can get packing as long as your employer is good with your moving further away.

Choosing Your Destination For Remote Work

It’s always been true that many people who choose to live away from their permanent home do so based on personal needs or preferences, such as nearby family, a love of warm weather, or proximity to beaches or skiing, for example. In 2023, when many workers are mandated to be back at the office, others who can work remotely may decide to travel for a designated period, whether it be to Colorado or Columbia.

As a digital nomad headed for a foreign country, consider factors such as Internet reliability, cost of living, or safety. Earth Trekkers, a website and blog managed by a family who decided to travel the world in 13 months, confirms that Wi-Fi speed and reliability, overall cost, cleanliness, and tax laws in particular areas are among the top considerations even within the United States.

Recommendations From Indeed

One of the most relatable guides to great cities for remote workers was published by Indeed.com. Their list of excellent cities ranked the top 18 based on factors such as:

• Internet coverage
• Economic health
• Cost of living
• Walkability
• Typical weather

Their list of 18 cities includes:

1. Atlanta, Georgia
2. Jersey City, New Jersey
3. Charlotte, NC
4. Portland, Oregon
5. Irving, TX
6. Cincinnati, Ohio
7. Denver, Colorado
8. Boston, Massachusetts,
9. San Diego, California
10. Washington, DC
11. Nashville, Tennessee
12. Seattle, Washington
13. New York City, New York
14. Phoenix, Arizona
15. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
16. Sacramento, California
17. Dallas, Texas
18. Salt Lake City, Utah

This list gives a variety of cities throughout the country. Whether you like four distinct seasons or like it warmer most of the year, there is somewhere to please you in terms of weather. If you are a digital nomad with the time and budget to visit the attractions many of these places are known for, you can concentrate on what there is to do in the area. No matter your budget, you might enjoy a walkable city where you can easily pick up what you need without driving.

To make a conscious decision based on data, look at the abundant information offered by research teams in addition to reports from individual travelers. One excellent place to start is the information gathered by the Forbes Advisory Board.

Forbes Advisor Top Metrics

Using several sources, Forbes Magazine compiled a list of the 11 top concerns for a comfortable remote working environment. After ranking cities on their cumulative score on these variables, they reached a composite score and ranked cities.

• 10%—Median household income, Census American Community Survey
• 10%—Worker Friendliness, Oxfam Best States to Work in America 2022
• 10%—Cost of Living, MIT Living Wage Calculator
• 10%—Unemployed Rate, Census American Community Survey
• 10%—Annual Taxes, Census American Community Survey
•   7%—Average Internet Download Speeds, HighSpeedInternet
•   7%—Number of Free Wi-Fi Hotspots, WiFiMap.io
•   9%—Arts and Entertainment Establishments per 100,000 businesses, Census County Business Patterns
•   9%—Food and Drink Establishments per 100,000 businesses, Census County Business Patterns
•   9%—Rent Affordability, MIT Living Wage Calculator
•   9%—Median Home Price, Census American Community Survey

Forbes Best Cities For Work-From-Home

Forbes considers the top three all-around best cities were Miami, FL, Indianapolis, IN, and Omaha, NE.

Miami, with a score of 100%, boasts warm weather and beaches, reasonable living and housing costs, low unemployment, and fast Internet with many free Wi-Fi locations. Area dining is top-notch.

Indianapolis, also scoring 100%, has fast Internet, a low cost of living, great Internet, and an environment friendly to remote workers.

Omaha has great attractions, low unemployment, reasonable living costs, and offers the chance to earn the highest income as a remote worker. Its cumulative score is 96.

Interestingly, when comparing cities on various elements, the Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN Metro Area does not rank in the top 20 cities on any individual characteristic except rental costs. When all the scores were compiled, the area still vied for the number one spot!

Areas with some of the best dining, attractions, and culture, such as New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA Metro Area (score=70) or Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD Metro Area (score=73), were too costly to earn top spots. These areas ranked 27 and 33, respectively. The more budget-conscious you are, the more that area wages, rents, home prices, Internet, and taxes will figure in your choice.

Here is a handy chart based on data compiled by Forbes to show city ranking in some of the most crucial variables.

Rank	Highest Earning Potential	Taxes	Best Internet	Best Amenities	Living Wage	Average Rent	Median Home Price
1	Omaha, NE	Fresno, CA Metro Area	Spokane, WA	Spokane, WA	Paso, TX Metro Area	Toledo, OH Metro Area	McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX Metro Area
2	Miami, FL	Toledo, OH Metro Area	Richmond, VA	Richmond, VA	Tucson, AZ Metro Area	Wichita, KS Metro Area	El Paso, TX Metro Area
3	Ogden, UT	Wichita, KS Metro Area	Austin, TX	Austin, TX	Wichita, KS Metro Area	El Paso, TX Metro Area	Toledo, OH Metro Area
4	Minneapolis, MN	Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, FL Metro Area	Springfield, MA	Springfield, MA	Memphis, TN-MS-AR Metro Area	Winston-Salem, NC Metro Area	Scranton–Wilkes-Barre–Hazleton, PA Metro Area
5	Kansas City, MO	Akron, OH Metro Area	Greenville, SC	Greenville, SC	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA Metro Area	Dayton, OH Metro Area	Syracuse, NY Metro Area
6	Madison, WI	Colorado Springs, CO Metro Area	Tucson, AZ	Tucson, AZ	Dayton, OH	Akron, OH Metro Area	Dayton, OH Metro Area
7	Lakeland, FL	Cleveland-Elyria, OH Metro Area	San Antonio, TX	San Antonio, TX	Akron, OH	Scranton–Wilkes-Barre–Hazleton, PA Metro Area	Wichita, KS Metro Area
8	Colorado Springs, CO	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL Metro Area	Charleston, SC	Charleston, SC	Winston-Salem, NC Metro Area	Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA Metro Area	Rochester, NY Metro Area
9	Harrisburg, PA	Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL Metro Area	Rochester, NY	Rochester, NY	Cleveland-Elyria, OH Metro Area	Cleveland-Elyria, OH Metro Area	Jackson, MS Metro Area
10	Denver, CO	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI Metro Area	Columbia, SC	Columbia, SC	Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN Metro Area	McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX Metro Area	Greensboro-High Point, NC Metro Area

Forbes 20 Best Cities For Remote Workers

Here is the Forbes overall rank for the top 20 cities:

Overall Rank	Geographic Area Name	Scaled Score
1	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL Metro Area	100
2	Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN Metro Area	100
3	Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA Metro Area	96
4	Tulsa, OK Metro Area	95
5	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI Metro Area	94
6	San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX Metro Area	89
7	Jacksonville, FL Metro Area	87
8	Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL Metro Area	87
9	Tucson, AZ Metro Area	86
10	Cleveland-Elyria, OH Metro Area	85
11	Kansas City, MO-KS Metro Area	85
12	Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL Metro Area	84
13	Greenville-Anderson-Mauldin, SC Metro Area	83
14	Rochester, NY Metro Area	82
15	Wichita, KS Metro Area	81
15	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Metro Area	79
16	Memphis, TN-MS-AR Metro Area	80
18	Oklahoma City, OK Metro Area	78
19	Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA Metro Area	77
20	Columbus, OH Metro Area	77

WalletHub Evaluate The Best States For Remote Work

WalletHub also compiled data about the best states to live in. Whether you want to find out the environment for working at home in a state you live in or are considering moving to, you will see a broader view of the state than the Forbes data shows.\

Some states with excellent cities for remote workers, based on Forbes data, do not rate highly on the state level presented by WalletHub. For example, based on the living and working environment offered in the states, Florida has an overall rank of 16, Indiana 32, and Nebraska 39 – even though Miami, Indianapolis, and Omaha were the best places to remote work, according to Forbes.

To reach their conclusions, WalletHub used slightly different criteria for work environment and living environment. Some factors, such as lot size and swimming pools in the area, might not be important to the average remote worker, although highly paid workers looking for upscale neighborhoods might be interested.

They found that the states with the highest and lowest percentages of people working at home were as follows:

Highest	Lowest
1. District of Columbia	47.    West Virginia
2. Colorado	T-48. Alabama
3. Oregon	T-48. Arkansas
4. Utah	50.    Louisiana
T-5. Vermont	51.    Mississippi
T-5. Washington

Overall Rank	State	Total Score	Work Environment	Living Environment
1	Delaware	66.15	2	11
2	Utah	64.45	6	4
3	Maryland	63.96	4	17
4	Connecticut	63.09	12	6
5	New Jersey	62.78	5	26
6	District of Columbia	62.24	1	50
7	Georgia	61.90	27	1
8	Arizona	61.05	9	5
9	Washington	60.75	11	19
10	Colorado	60.68	10	7
11	Massachusetts	60.53	3	38
12	New Hampshire	59.47	28	30
13	Tennessee	58.99	19	2
14	Rhode Island	58.88	38	22
15	North Carolina	58.85	16	25
16	Florida	58.74	20	10
17	Texas	58.68	15	3
18	Pennsylvania	57.44	7	44
19	Nevada	57.17	17	20
20	Ohio	56.78	21	29

If you are looking within the best states for remote work, you are likely to find a city that is right for you. The good news is that as a remote worker looking for a new city to call home for a time, plenty of resources can give you the knowledge base you need to choose the best place to go.