WJR Business Beat with Jeff Sloan: PC Magazine Reveals Best Places to Live for Remote Working (Episode 176)

Good morning!

We know all too well that COVID-19 has created a work from home phenomenon that is here to stay. In fact, 22% of Americans say that they desire to continue to work from home as standard procedure going forward, even well beyond the COVID-19 crisis. And those who have grown accustomed to working from home and want to continue, there’s a new major factor driving relocation choices by many Americans.

What is it? It’s connectivity.

The ability to get affordable high-speed internet connections, and now PC Magazine has just published a list of the best places in America to live taking into account whether or not a place not only offers fundamentals like affordable housing and a vibrant quality of life, but also whether or not there is affordable high-speed internet access.

The study leads at PC magazine explain:

Working from home requires not only fast download speeds, which was the standard up until now, because high speed internet was largely used for entertainment, like watching a movie on Netflix, and that required high speed downloads. But now that people are working from home, they need high speed uploading capability too, for things like Zoom calls and uploading documents to the cloud, like to Google docs, for example.

And the best option for high-speed downloads and uploads, well, it’s fiber. So, towns and regions that have fiber available to its citizens at an affordable rate are now sitting pretty and seeing an influx of tech workers and others who are working from home.

So what tops, the list of places that offer the most affordable housing, best quality of life and most affordable and effective high-speed internet access?

Well, it’s Chattanooga, Tennessee.

In fact, in 2019, according to the census, Chattanooga has roughly 10% more people working from home than other areas.

How about locations in Michigan well-suited to work from home? How about Petoskey, Michigan? It ranks six on the list, and Niles, Michigan ranked 16.

So, if you’re committed to working from home well into the future and want to make a move, but maintain residence in the state of Michigan, go North to Petoskey or go West to Niles. These locations are among the top locations in the country, according to PC magazine, for working from home.

I’m Jeff Sloan, founder and CEO of StartupNation.com, and that’s today’s Business Beat on the Great Voice of the Great Lakes, WJR.