10 cities ideal for hybrid or full-time telecommuters seeking an outdoor lifestyle
When the pandemic was first realized, cities emptied out, highways were suddenly devoid of cars and storefronts shuttered overnight. The assumption in many communities was that it would last for a few months and then everything would return to normal—those who’d left would return to their office jobs and apartments.
But these two years later, many cities that saw their populations dramatically drop haven’t yet bounced back. There are a number of reasons for this, among them, the rise in popularity of remote and hybrid work.
“The pandemic has opened up the chance for people to work remotely from wherever they like. Many workers no longer have to prioritize proximity to the office when deciding where to live. Instead they can consider other factors that would improve their quality of life—one of which is access to the outdoors,” according to an analysis by Ownerly of 1,000 United States cities ideal for remote or hybrid workers, with proximity to the outdoors.
The analysis takes into account things like cost-related factors including rent and housing prices, while prioritizing factors including access to green space, number of gyms, prevalence of leisure activities and levels of local or state fitness.
A few key takeaways from the analysis are that small cities are better for telecommuting—15 of the top 25 cities ranked by the analysis have populations under 100,000 people. Midsized communities (populations under 250,000) accounted for eight of the cities, and two cities have a population greater than 250,000.
Cities in the west comprised eight of the 10 top spots, and of the top 25, eight of those cities were in the northeast.
“The West Coast makes a strong comeback from the results in our Best Zoom Towns USA study,” a statement from Ownerly says. “High cost of living locked many West Coast cities out of the top 25 contention for Best Zoom Towns overall . But because this ranking prioritizes factors for a healthy outdoors lifestyle, the West Coast was able to bounce back and dominate the top 25.”
Follow this link to view Ownerly’s top 25 list.
