Cities and States The place the Most Employees Are Shifting

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During the pandemic, remote working has given some employees the luxury of moving across the country — often to cheaper cities, larger homes, or both.

New data suggests teleworkers will continue migrating in 2023, but destinations are beginning to change.

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What the research says

While it may come as a surprise, Americans have actually moved less frequently in recent years, according to the National Association of Realtors. Not surprisingly, Florida and Texas attracted the most out-of-state residents last year, while California, New York and Illinois lost the most people to out-of-state moves.

Of those who have recently moved or are considering moving this year, new data shows remote workers are the ones leading the way:

• Last year, according to an Apartment List survey of 6,000 US workers, 27% of fully remote workers and 31% of hybrid remote workers relocated, compared to 17% of on-site workers.

• Fully removed and hybrid workers were also much more likely to tell Apartment List that they plan to move in 2023, suggesting the great migration of removed workers will continue.

• 27% of on-site workers told Apartment List they plan to move in 2023 — while 36% of fully remote workers and 44% of hybrid workers said the same.

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Where workers move back and forth

At the beginning of the pandemic, when many employees were getting their first taste of the freedom of remote work, many fled expensive big cities like New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Seattle for the suburbs or cheaper subways.

• Data from jobs site LinkedIn shows the dynamic is beginning to change, with workers beginning to leave smaller cities in favor of some of the same cities that have been exodus.

• LinkedIn has nearly 200 million US users and can track when they change jobs and move to other cities. It uses this data to create migration reports.

Here are the five cities where workers are fleeing, according to LinkedIn’s February 2023 Labor Force Report:

1. Wenatchee, Washington
2. College Station – Bryan, Texas
3. Tallahassee, Fla
4. Portland, Oregon
5. Springfield, Massachusetts

And this is where most of the workers move:

1. Austin, Texas
2. San Francisco Bay Area, California
3. Seattle, Washington
4. Tampa Bay, Fla
5. Nashville, Tennessee

Austin and Tampa have consistently seen an influx of new residents in recent years. Notably, some cities that have seen population declines in the recent past are rapidly regaining labor force.

• For example, in a February 2022 report by LinkedIn, San Francisco was among the top 10 cities that lost the most people. A year later, it’s number 2, which wins the most workers in the country.

• What might be affecting the trend: The housing markets in San Francisco and Seattle have seen the biggest price declines of late, potentially luring back some telecommuters fleeing the high cost of living. Also behind the trend could be return-to-workplace orders from Twitter, Google, Apple, Starbucks and other major employers headquartered in those areas.

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