STATEWIDE-Even before the pandemic, remote work was on the rise. Now, as companies realize employees are as productive while working from home, economists see that trend continuing. A recent study found that Tell City and Greenwood both are cities considered to be very “remote-work friendly” to their residents.
A new study by InMyArea.com analyzed over 800 communities across the U.S. to see which were best suited for remote workers based on housing costs and internet access. To account for population size, they broke it down into four categories: Best Big City, Best Extra-Small City, Best Small City, and Best Medium City.
Tell City was ranked the #1 best small city for remote workers.
“For Tell City, it boils down to cost-of-living. It was remarkably low compared to other cities,” said Ryan McGonagill, Director of Industry Research at InMyArea.com. “Tell City also has a very high percentage of the population that has access to both broadband internet and basic internet. That’s why they rank so highly.”
Greenwood was named the #1 best city for remote workers in Indiana regardless of size.
“Greenwood has a remarkably high percentage of accessibility for internet plans compared to other cities. If you look at the top cities in each state for working remotely in terms of population size, almost none of them are the largest or most well-known city in each state. That’s likely because in larger cities cost-of-living is higher, but access to internet is not necessarily proportional. Suburban or more mid-sized areas tend to be that sweet spot where housing costs drop, but accessibility and competition are high enough where internet prices are more affordable,” said McGonagill.
In Greenwood, the average monthly cost of rent is $1,100 with 98.5% of people having access to high-speed internet.
McGonagill acknowledged that many people use a variety of factors to determine of a place is an attractive destination such as concert venues, parks, restaurants, etc. McGonagill said the study did not account for those things.
McGonagill believes remote work is here to stay.
“I think companies are seeing the value of it. They know if they do allow people to work remotely, then that gives them access to more talent in different locations. While some companies may not have that luxury, I think you will see a lot of companies following in the footsteps of Google and Facebook in letting their team work remotely. That could have some pretty positive implications,” said McGonagill.
As for the rest of the study, San Antonio, Texas was ranked the Best Big City, Seward, Alaska was named the Best Extra-Small City, and the Best Medium City was Morristown, Tennessee.
