Do you love working remotely? Dread returning to the office? Love the flexibility of being at home? Hate the commute? You are not alone. More than half of U.S workers agree with you.
Most Workers Want to Work Remotely
According to a recent survey, 55 percent of workers now want to work remotely full-time. Many are unaware, however, that for a variety of reasons, such as legal, taxes, and licensing issues, approximately 95 percent of remote jobs require remote workers to be based in a specific geographic location, such as a city or state.
To help job seekers identify which states have high potential for remote job opportunities, FlexJobs has ranked all fifty states according to the ratio of available remote jobs in each state to active job seekers in the FlexJobs database as of June 1, 2022.
“Overall we have seen a steady rise in the availability of remote jobs across all geographic regions of the United States, as well as an increase in the variety of job titles and industries hiring,” said Sara Sutton, Founder and CEO of FlexJobs.
“In fact, the number of remote job postings in the FlexJobs database increased 12 percent from 2020 to 2021. Not only are remote jobs that have a geographic requirement on the rise but so are the highly coveted remote jobs that can be done from any location, all of which is great news for job seekers,” Sutton concluded.
Remote Job Rankings
These rankings do not reflect the overall volume of remote jobs in each state but rather the ratio of remote jobs to job seekers. Examples of remote-friendly companies currently hiring remote workers in each state are also included.
Just over half of the top fifteen states are located on the East Coast, and more narrowly, a third are located in the Northeast. No West Coast or southern states made the top fifteen. These states have the least competition for remote jobs in the U.S.
Top 15 States for Remote Workers
- Rhode Island
- Citizens Bank
- CVS Health
- Washington, DC
- American Red Cross
- Vox Media
- Delaware
- Chemours
- Marlette Funding
- North Dakota
- Noridian Healthcare Solutions
- Ulteig
- Maine
- IDEXX Laboratories
- Jackson Laboratory
- Vermont
- Institute for Sustainable Communities – ISC
- University Of Vermont
- South Dakota
- Daktronics
- Sanford Health
- New Hampshire
- Southern New Hampshire University – SNHU
- Skillsoft
- West Virginia
- ACCEL Schools
- American Public University System – APUS
- Nebraska
- Ameritas
- Nelnet
- Wyoming
- Fastly
- Mia Share
- Utah
- Pluralsight
- Western Governors University – WGU
- Connecticut
- Cigna
- The Hartford
- Kentucky
- Certilytics
- Humana
- Massachusetts
- Houghton Mifflin Harcourt – HMH
- Thermo Fisher Scientific
In addition to offering state-based remote career opportunities, some cities and states are incentivizing employees to move through remote worker programs.
Specifically, Oklahoma, and Vermont, currently offer financial incentives for employees to move to their state and work remotely.
Oklahoma
Tulsa Remote will give you some money to help with relocation expenses, a monthly stipend to keep things moving, and the rest when you’ve finished the first year for a total of $10,000.
Vermont
The Remote Worker Grant Program offers reimbursement grants of up $5,000 per year ($10,000 over two years) to remote workers across the country who move to Vermont.
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A Dime Saved
Hi! I am a millennial mom with a passion for personal finance. I have always been “into” personal finance but got inspired to start my blog after a period of extended unemployment. That experience really changed the way I viewed my relationship with money and the importance of accessible personal finance education.