Before the pandemic, 43% of the American workforce had gotten a taste of teleworking, according to Gallup. Since then, COVID has made remote work the new norm for people across the country
As many workers are no longer bound to their offices, they may seek new places to live. But some cities are better equipped for this influx of workers than others.
STORAGECafé recently pinpointed the US. metros that have the best tech foundation for digital workers in a blog post.
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"The share of a city's GDP derived from the tech economy, the percentage of the workforce employed in tech companies, and the growth of the tech industry over the past 10 years all determine a city's level of preparedness for the digital economy," STORAGECafé said in the blog. "The more a city invests in the tech sector, the more attractive it becomes to tech workers, and, subsequently, telecommuters."
In the study, STORAGECafé found that coastal cities are best prepared for teleworkers. It ranked San Jose, Calif, as the top city for telecommuters, followed by San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, Washington D.C., Austin, Dallas, Atlanta, Denver and San Diego. It ranked Detroit, Portland and Raleigh as the next best cities for remote workers.
STORAGECafé said that San Jose, home to Apple, HP, Google, and Adobe, has a tech sector that generates 58% of its GDP, which translates into an economic impact of $184.7 billion. Since 32.8% of the city's total workforce is employed in tech, it wasn't a surprise to STORAGECafé that it was the top city for teleworkers.
STORAGECafé looked at the impact of tech on the local economy, the tech industry percentage of GDP, estimated net tech employment in 2019, the percentage of the workforce in tech and tech industry job gains from 2010 to 2019 to produce the list of the 10 top cities for telecommuters.
While tech infrastructure plays a larger role in where teleworkers decide to live, price also plays a large role. In its recent quarterly Renter Migration Report, Apartment List found that workers were moving into more affordable cities like Sacramento, Calif., and Richmond, Va.
"The new normal in 2021 and beyond may involve commuting to the office once or twice a week. In this case, smaller cities within 100 miles of San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City are going to thrive in the near future," says Igor Popov, Chief Economist for Apartment List.
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Leslie Shaver
Les Shaver has been covering commercial and residential real estate for almost 20 years. His work has appeared in Multifamily Executive, Builder, units, Arlington Magazine in addition to GlobeSt.com and Real Estate Forum.
