Best Cities To Live and Work From Home in 2021

By 247sarah Published Jul 26, 5:00PM EDT

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Best Cities To Live and Work From Home in 2021 — © filadendron / E+ via Getty Images

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed our perceptions of work and home. Because of lockdowns and other restrictions, tens of millions of people have been working at home for the last 16 months. Their homes have become their offices and they have been seeing more of their families and pets than they have of their colleagues and friends. (These are the states where the most people are working from home.)

This shift has its upsides. People no longer have to commute to offices, whether that means long drives or subway or bus rides. They no longer have to wear suits and ties. In fact, if they don’t have a Zoom meeting, they can spend the day in their pajamas.

It also has its downsides. They’re stuck at home, and that can be frustrating, especially if home is a small apartment in a big city. Some places are more hospitable to full-time home office work than others, due to a number of factors. (In general, this is the best city to live in every state.)

24/7 Wall St. has compiled a list of the best cities for work-from-home value, using a ranking formulated by LawnStarter, a lawn care start-up that frequently conducts research into city and state amenities. The ranking covers the country’s 120 biggest housing markets, and is based on 20 weighted metrics, including measures of average home and yard size, cost and availability of sale and rental properties, and the availability of incentives offered to incoming remote workers by some cities, counties, and states. (Population numbers come from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey one-year estimates.)

The best city of all for work-from-home value is Rochester, New York. It ranks No. 1 for buyer friendliness and has numerous other advantages. It was one of the country’s first boomtowns and was home to such familiar names as Bausch & Lomb, Eastman Kodak, and Xerox. It was hurt by deindustrialization, but that’s what makes it attractive today — it combines good infrastructure with affordability.

Click here to see the best cities to live and work from home in 2021.

Other good cities for home workers include Shreveport, Louisiana; Lincoln, Nebraska; and Vancouver, Washington — reflecting the list’s geographic diversity. There are good work-from-home cities all over the country.

50. Vancouver, Washington
> Lawnstarter score: 49.66
> Top metric: WFH-Friendliness (#21 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 180,556

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49. Des Moines, Iowa
> Lawnstarter score: 49.77
> Top metric: Renter-Friendliness (#23 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 215,636

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48. Raleigh, North Carolina
> Lawnstarter score: 49.79
> Top metric: WFH-Friendliness (#16 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 464,485

47. Plano, Texas
> Lawnstarter score: 50.02
> Top metric: WFH-Friendliness (#3 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 287,064

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46. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
> Lawnstarter score: 50.15
> Top metric: Buyer-Friendliness (#18 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 1,579,075

44. Winston-Salem, North Carolina
> Lawnstarter score: 50.28
> Top metric: Renter-Friendliness (#4 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 244,115

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44. Garland, Texas
> Lawnstarter score: 50.28
> Top metric: WFH-Friendliness (#5 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 238,418

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43. Durham, North Carolina
> Lawnstarter score: 50.29
> Top metric: Space (#15 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 269,702

42. Omaha, Nebraska
> Lawnstarter score: 50.54
> Top metric: Renter-Friendliness (#16 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 475,862

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41. Tampa, Florida
> Lawnstarter score: 50.81
> Top metric: WFH-Friendliness (#12 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 387,916

40. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
> Lawnstarter score: 51.08
> Top metric: Renter-Friendliness (#17 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 594,548

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39. Lincoln, Nebraska
> Lawnstarter score: 51.13
> Top metric: Space (#20 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 283,839

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38. Chesapeake, Virginia
> Lawnstarter score: 51.14
> Top metric: Space (#11 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 239,982

37. Richmond, Virginia
> Lawnstarter score: 51.43
> Top metric: Buyer-Friendliness (#11 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 226,622

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36. Louisville, Kentucky
> Lawnstarter score: 51.53
> Top metric: Buyer-Friendliness (#23 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 617,790

35. Jacksonville, Florida
> Lawnstarter score: 51.54
> Top metric: Buyer-Friendliness (#19 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 890,467

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34. Greensboro, North Carolina
> Lawnstarter score: 51.60
> Top metric: Renter-Friendliness (#8 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 291,303

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33. Arlington, Texas
> Lawnstarter score: 51.68
> Top metric: WFH-Friendliness (#13 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 395,477

32. Dallas, Texas
> Lawnstarter score: 51.79
> Top metric: WFH-Friendliness (#9 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 1,330,612

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31. Newark, New Jersey
> Lawnstarter score: 52.07
> Top metric: Space (#10 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 281,054

30. Atlanta, Georgia
> Lawnstarter score: 52.50
> Top metric: WFH-Friendliness (#24 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 488,800

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29. Detroit, Michigan
> Lawnstarter score: 52.51
> Top metric: Buyer-Friendliness (#10 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 674,841

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28. Cleveland, Ohio
> Lawnstarter score: 52.67
> Top metric: Renter-Friendliness (#10 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 385,282

27. Newport News, Virginia
> Lawnstarter score: 52.73
> Top metric: Renter-Friendliness (#18 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 179,673

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26. Yonkers, New York
> Lawnstarter score: 52.97
> Top metric: WFH-Friendliness (#6 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 199,968

25. San Antonio, Texas
> Lawnstarter score: 53.12
> Top metric: WFH-Friendliness (#20 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 1,508,083

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24. Huntsville, Alabama
> Lawnstarter score: 53.17
> Top metric: Space (#9 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 196,219

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23. Frisco, Texas
> Lawnstarter score: 53.20
> Top metric: Space (#1 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 177,020

22. Birmingham, Alabama
> Lawnstarter score: 53.44
> Top metric: Renter-Friendliness (#7 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 212,297

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21. McKinney, Texas
> Lawnstarter score: 53.52
> Top metric: WFH-Friendliness (#1 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 182,055

20. El Paso, Texas
> Lawnstarter score: 53.99
> Top metric: Renter-Friendliness (#6 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 679,813

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19. Tallahassee, Florida
> Lawnstarter score: 54.10
> Top metric: Buyer-Friendliness (#6 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 191,279

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18. Memphis, Tennessee
> Lawnstarter score: 54.14
> Top metric: Renter-Friendliness (#12 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 651,932

17. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
> Lawnstarter score: 54.17
> Top metric: Renter-Friendliness (#15 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 643,692

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16. Baltimore, Maryland
> Lawnstarter score: 54.21
> Top metric: Buyer-Friendliness (#16 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 609,032

15. Miami, Florida
> Lawnstarter score: 54.50
> Top metric: Buyer-Friendliness (#2 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 454,279

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14. Knoxville, Tennessee
> Lawnstarter score: 54.51
> Top metric: Space (#13 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 186,173

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13. Fort Worth, Texas
> Lawnstarter score: 54.68
> Top metric: WFH-Friendliness (#8 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 874,401

12. Overland Park, Kansas
> Lawnstarter score: 54.71
> Top metric: Space (#3 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 191,011

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11. Fort Lauderdale, Florida
> Lawnstarter score: 54.87
> Top metric: Buyer-Friendliness (#7 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 180,124

10. Houston, Texas
> Lawnstarter score: 55.83
> Top metric: Renter-Friendliness (#13 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 2,310,432

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9. Las Vegas, Nevada
> Lawnstarter score: 56.84
> Top metric: Buyer-Friendliness (#9 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 634,773

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8. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
> Lawnstarter score: 57.04
> Top metric: Buyer-Friendliness (#4 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 302,205

7. Little Rock, Arkansas
> Lawnstarter score: 57.05
> Top metric: Renter-Friendliness (#1 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 197,958

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6. Baton Rouge, Louisiana
> Lawnstarter score: 57.95
> Top metric: Space (#2 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 224,149

5. Orlando, Florida
> Lawnstarter score: 57.97
> Top metric: Buyer-Friendliness (#3 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 280,832

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4. Shreveport, Louisiana
> Lawnstarter score: 60.81
> Top metric: Renter-Friendliness (#2 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 192,035

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3. Cincinnati, Ohio
> Lawnstarter score: 61.03
> Top metric: Buyer-Friendliness (#5 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 301,394

2. Tulsa, Oklahoma
> Lawnstarter score: 61.59
> Top metric: Renter-Friendliness (#5 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 402,324

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1. Rochester, New York
> Lawnstarter score: 64.15
> Top metric: Buyer-Friendliness (#1 out of 120 cities)
> Total population: 206,848

About the Author 247sarah →

Sarah Burns is an editor and writer at 24/7 Wall St. She previously worked at AOL and MSN. She began her career in book publishing at Viking Press/Penguin Books and has been writing and editing general and financial news stories for the last 15 years.

In addition to 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo, her stories have appeared in USA Today, MSN, MarketWatch, Business Insider, and Yahoo Finance.

Sarah has edited numerous travel and garden books. She teaches urban farming in New York City public schools and is an instructor at the New York Botanical Garden. She graduated from Bowdoin College in Maine with a bachelor’s degree in English. She is based in New York City.