AARP Eye Center
One of the most popular features of remote work is that these jobs can be done from anywhere, but that doesn’t mean that every place is an ideal environment to work from home. According to a new analysis from WalletHub, meaningful differences from state to state affect how easy and affordable it is to work from home.
“The states that are good for remote work have a good internet infrastructure, both in terms of access and speed,” says WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez. “They also have more available jobs that can be done remotely and employees that [have access to] a work-from-home or hybrid schedule.”
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To see how each state and the District of Columbia measured as a place to work from home, WalletHub — a company that offers research to help people make personal finance decisions — gathered data on 12 characteristics related to being able to both work and live comfortably in each state.
“Internet speed is the main thing to consider [when working remotely], as is cybersecurity,” Gonzalez says. “The costs for internet and electricity should also be accounted for. On top of this, it’s important to have a designated work area within the home. This will help reduce distractions and interruptions during work hours.”
Delaware was rated as the best state overall for working from home. In addition to determining an overall rank for remote work for each states, the analysis also gives each state two more rankings. One measures for how that state fares as a place to work, including metrics such as the share of people working remotely, share of people who could work remotely, share of homes with broadband internet, and number of cybercrimes per capita. The other ranking measures how affordable and comfortable the state is to live in, including such factors as cost of electricity, access to low-cost internet, home sizes and home prices.
The work environment rankings and the living environment rankings suggest some interesting contrasts. For example, the District of Columbia scored the top ranking for work environment but tanked for living environment, coming in at number 50.
The following are the top 10 states in WalletHub’s analysis of the best states for remote work. The full list is available here. Clicking on the “Find jobs” link in each ranking will go to AARP Job Board postings available in that state. Not all of those jobs can be done remotely.
1. Delaware
Total score: 66.15
Work environment rank: 2
Living environment rank: 11
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2. Utah
Total score: 64.45
Work environment rank: 6
Living environment rank: 4
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3. Maryland
Total score: 63.96
Work environment: 4
Living environment rank: 17
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4. Connecticut
Total score: 63.09
Work environment rank: 12
Living environment rank: 6
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5. New Jersey
Total score: 62.78
