The best place in America for remote work

More and more companies are catering to remote employees and some cities are hot remote work destinations. Ideal locations have a modest cost of living, plenty of coworking spaces or locations with fast internet, and a young and fun community.

If you don't already work from home, now is the perfect time to ask! If you already work remotely, or just got approval to, then check out these next cities with these top factors. Pick the place that focuses on what you find to be most important!

Remote work is on the rise. According to a 2019 report by FlexJobs, the number of people telecommuting to work in the U.S. increased by 159 percent between 2005 and 2017. However, despite more people living the digital nomad life, there are still a few places around the nation that aren’t exactly friendly to remote workers.

Overheard on Conference Calls, a career advice website, researched the 50 largest cities across America to find which are the friendliest to remote workers and which ones fall short.

To determine the rankings, the website analyzed five elements, including the city’s average Wi-Fi speed, the number of coffee shops per capita, and the availability of co-working spaces, in addition to cost of living, commute time savings, and more.

So, which city came in first place? That honor goes to Kansas City, Missouri.

“It scored well for both cost of living and average Wi-Fi speed,” the website explained. “In fact, according to our analysis, it has the fastest Wi-Fi speeds in the country. That factor was weighted double in our study and made Kansas City stand out.”

Salt Lake City, Utah, came in second place, thanks to its low cost of living. The top five also included Austin, Texas; Raleigh, North Carolina; and San Antonio, Texas.

However, if you’re a remote worker, you may want to stay away from Memphis, Tennessee. It came in last, due to its slow Wi-Fi speeds and lack of co-working spaces and coffee shops. Meanwhile, New York City came in 49th place because of its high cost of living. Cleveland, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; and Birmingham, Alabama rounded out the bottom five cities.

That being said, just because some cities stifle remote work opportunities doesn’t mean they aren’t out there.

Source: travelandleisure.com, owllabs.com