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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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