More people than ever are opting to work for long periods away from their homes. WorkMotion, a firm that says it helps companies work through international compliance hurdles to hire people based anywhere in the world, looked at which cities are best for such nomads.
The company devised a complex algorithm to rate the best cities for what it labels “workations.” In the U.S., they are Chicago (82.8 out of 100), San Francisco (82.0), New York (81.1), Austin (79.9), Portland (Oregon, 78.6), New Orleans (78.3), Miami (78.2), Los Angeles (78.1), Seattle (77.9) and Colorado Springs (76.7).
“The Index for The Cities Best Facilitating Remote Work: Workation Edition” is an international list, with the best score — a perfect 100 — given to Barcelona. The last on the list at 85 is Bangalore, which scored an even 50. This means that the U.S. cities were bunched in the upper half of the results.
Factors in the list are Worknation (remote worker visa availability); livability (safety and security, access to healthcare, access to housing, mobility, happiness, remote working infrastructure and visitor experiences), and Taxes and the Cost of Living (income tax, cost of housing, cost of monthly food basket).
“Data shows most of those taking advantage of remote work are single millennials and Gen-Z’s taking Workations with an average of 6 months at their host cities,” the report said. “Data also shows that many foreign workers are now opting for going back home to work remotely. Using our deep knowledge of compliance regulations, we set out to understand which cities are most accessible and appealing for remote workers.”
Geographically dispersed work was a trend before the COVID-19 pandemic and exploded when the virus arrived. This has led to significant improvements in technology. InternetAdvisor pointed to faster broadband, cloud computing, more comprehensive communications and collaboration tools, and better cybersecurity as keys to the growth.