The Top Cities to Find Remote Talent

As it becomes more and more likely that the U.S. will not return to its former lifestyle with workers spending each day bent full-time over their desks in an office, it is time for each company to work out remote work solutions as part of its future talent strategy, according to Colliers. And that means figuring out which metro areas are most likely to attract remote workers.

Colliers identified five categories that make a location attractive for remote work. It selected quality of life, an environment that facilitates remote work, affordability, workforce and earnings, and safety. Then it analyzed the top 25 metro areas in the U.S. best suited for remote work and ranked them based on various criteria within each category. 

Not surprisingly, a city might score well in one category but poorly in another. For example, San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley in California had the highest score for quality of life (87) and remote working environment (86) but scored only 19 for affordability – the lowest in the country — and 39 for safety – the third lowest.

Nevertheless, the metro ranked #2 nationwide. “Despite negative headlines and the aforementioned challenges, the Bay Area is still home to some of the deepest pools of human capital in the country, underpinned by world class educational institutions,” Colliers explained.

The top scorer in the country was Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington. Even though the metro scored only middling ratings for safety and affordability, it was selected as #1 “thanks to its outstanding performance in Quality of Life, Workforce and Earnings, and Remote Environment,” Colliers said.

Denver-Aurora-Lakewood and Salt Lake City also made it into the top five, both scoring very highly in quality of life, workforce and earnings, and remote environment.

Interestingly, New York City was not included in the top 25, and the only Texas metro to make it was Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown. Houston lost out because of poor scores for safety and quality of life. The Washington, DC-Arlington,VA- Alexandria, MD area scored highly on remote environment and workforce and earnings, but had one of the lowest scores for affordability (33), only a 64 for quality of life, and 50 for safety. 

The top 25 remote work locations rankings were dominated by the Midwest, with six hubs, and the Southeast, with nine, Colliers noted. Five of the 10 states with the highest domestic net migration were represented among the 25. The states with the most metros in the sample were California, North Carolina, Florida, and Missouri.

Cities need to find ways to attract remote worker talent, Colliers summed up. “This can be achieved through a higher emphasis on live-work-play neighborhoods… and amenities such as greenspaces, walkability, bike lanes, parks, pedestrian-friendly streets/sidewalks and entertainment. Additionally, cities need to take active steps to upgrade communication and fiber infrastructure to support remote work.”