Three Indiana cities among ‘top places’ for remote workers
Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
The Wall Street Journal has released its list of the Top 10 Places for Remote Workers and three Indiana cities are included. The nationwide poll is based on the top 10 factors that people consider when deciding where they want to live and work remotely.
The Journal says the list showcases places that often aren’t on the radar of remote workers, even though they offer many of the qualities that people say they are looking for, such as affordability, high-speed internet and more living space.
Evansville is the highest-ranked Indiana community, coming in at No. 3. It is followed by Lafayette at No. 5 and Fort Wayne in the 10th position.
Lafayette was also recently named the top-ranked emerging housing market by the Wall Street Journal and Realtor.com in their Housing Market Index.
The WSJ included an interactive tool that allows readers to plug in their priorities and helps create a list of potential places that remote workers might consider.
Springfield, Missouri was the top-ranked city and one reason was its investment in broadband speed. In WSJ’s weighted metrics, Internet speed accounted for 30% of total score, followed by housing prices at 20%. Springfield recently updated to fiber through with city with high speeds and lower cost.
“The biggest thing for me was getting gigabit internet, and luckily that has been really good,” said Kenneth Soldink, a web developer for a Denver-based tech company. “It has just been a game-changer for me,” he says. “Now I can do off-site database backups.”
Indianapolis-based MakeMyMove, which offers a platform and services that help communities nationwide attract remote workers, says all three communities on the list use their services.
Evansville has a $5,900 package of which $5,000 is cash to relocate to Vanderburgh County within the next six months of signing the agreement. It also offers passes to museums and music venues.
The Evansville Regional Economic Partnership told IIB it has received 30 applications, the majority coming just in the last week, and one has already been approved.
“In addition to our efforts with MMM, we’re launching a digital marketing campaign to grow our overall population– remote workers included,” E-REP Marketing Director Abby Elpers said in an email to IIB. “The campaign builds on the Evansville region’s existing ‘E is for Everyone’ brand and motivates newcomers to imagine a life of belonging in our region.”
The greater Lafayette-West Lafayette is valued up to $10,000. Included is a relocation stipend of up to $5,000 for select, qualified candidates who relocate to live & work in Discovery Park District.
The MakeMyMove shows at least two dozen Indiana communities offering relocation packages to remote workers.
Click here to access the WSJ coverage.