The Best Cities & Companies for Remote Jobs

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Updated November 18, 2020

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As communicating with remote teams gets easier and easier through IM, video conferencing and cloud-based project management tools, more companies and employees have turned to remote work. In fact, as of 2017, 2.8 percent of the workforce in the US works remotely at least part of the time. But if you're a job seeker looking to enjoy the perks of telecommuting, it can be hard to know where to start. These cities and companies are leading the charge for remote work.

10 Best Cities for Remote Jobs

While remote workers can work from anywhere—that's a key perk of telecommuting, after all—some locations lend themselves to working from home. Being close to leaders in the tech or start-up world or colleges and universities can provide fertile ground for remote positions, but commuter cities are also hotspots for remote workers.

When looking for remote positions, job seekers can consider moving to one of these best cities for remote jobs or use these locations to look for remote positions on job boards – physically residing in that location may not be a requirement.

These cities were ranked by the following factors:

Percentage of remote workers
Median household income

Boulder, CO 1

2 Santa Cruz, CA

3 Denver, CO

4 Austin, TX

Santa Rosa, CA 5

6 The San Francisco Bay Area

Raleigh, NC 7

Provo, UT 8

San Diego, CA 9

Bridgeport, CT 10

1.Boulder, CO

Percentage of Remote Workers: 9.97%
2016 Median Household Income: $ 74,615

According to a 2016 Denver Post Article, Boulder has one of the nation's highest rates of professionals who work remotely full-time, outmatching the national average by 5.6 percent. Technology is the greatest industry pushing this trend. Boulder, nestled in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, is home to the University of Colorado at Boulder. The city has a history rich in mining and frontier exploration but is now known for its outdoor activities and promotion of a healthy lifestyle. Only 30 miles northwest of Denver, Boulder's 100,000 + residents, especially its remote workers, enjoy a balanced, smaller city life. In fact, Flexjobs, a job site built specifically around remote workers, is based in Boulder.

2.Santa Cruz, CA (Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA Metro Area)

Percentage of Remote Workers: 8.52%
2016 Median Household Income: $ 77,613

Remote workers might be tempted to head to Santa Cruz because of the city's awesome ocean views and companies' friendliness to telecommuters. The area's 29 miles of beaches offer many places for people to work, including cafes, beach fronts and hotels. Santa Cruz is only 30 miles south of San Jose and Silicon Valley, and the tech industry has boomed here. Start-ups are moving to Santa Cruz for the lifestyle; their remote workers who enjoy the sun and sand specifically can find a great work-life balance here. Plus, companies like Outsite are creating new work spaces for telecommuters in the area; not an office per se, but instead a communal area where remote workers can plug in and share a collective productive space.

3.Denver, CO (Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO Metro Area)

Percentage of Remote Workers: 8.12%
2016 Median Household Income: $ 71,926

The Mile High City sits at the end of the plains, just before the mountains. Home to seven professional sports teams including the Rockies, Nuggets and Avalanche, it has all of the trademarks of a big city. With close to three-quarters of a million people, that includes commuter traffic and high cost-of-living in its downtown and financial districts. Remote workers can find higher productivity and less drive-time working from home in the city and its surrounding areas. Because of the cost of downtown office space, companies are more and more amenable to hiring remote workers, too. Denver joins Boulder in helping to give Colorado the highest telecommuting rate in the country.

4.Austin, TX (Austin-Round Rock, TX Metro Area)

Percentage of Remote Workers: 8.61%
2016 Median Household Income: $ 71,000

Listed in Forbes as the fastest growing city of the last census (2011-2012), Austin has a lot to offer to the professionals who work there. According to the city's site, AustinTexas.gov, it ranked second in Forbes' Best Cities for Future Job Growth, is top-ten in places to begin a start-up and is the third best city for starting an online business. With the rapid growth of the city, remote workers find a nice combination of fun creative places from which to work, flexibility and productivity that a normal driving commuter can't find and many businesses seeking to hire telecommuters. Austin is a vibrant city known for its live music, food and art. This dynamic offers remote workers the opportunity to work hard and play harder.

5.Santa Rosa, CA

Percentage of Remote Workers: 7.65%
2016 Median Household Income: $ 73,929

Santa Rosa residents face a particularly brutal commute if they work in San Francisco. The cities are only 55 miles apart and are connected by freeway, so it should only take about an hour; however, online blogs and newspaper articles, like this one in the Press Democrat, tell a different story. The traffic can cause commute times to be three or four times what it should be, and up to five hours a day on bad days. Veteran commuters' tips include being on public transportation by 5:15 a.m., working to and from work, and considering the commute part of your “rest time.” Yikes! Remote workers get to enjoy Santa Rosa's beautiful greenery, outdoorsy lifestyle and endless vineyard-covered hills—while still being productive at work instead of commuting to and from.

6.The San Francisco Bay Area (San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA Metro Area)

Percentage of Remote Workers: 6.46%
2016 Median Household Income: $ 96,677

San Francisco has a lot of near-by urban communities that feed into its industrial eco-systems. East bay cities like Oakland, Hayward and Emeryville are right across the water, and their residents often work remotely rather than commute to the city. San Francisco has the second-highest average sales prices for homes in the country at more than $725,000. High prices plus housing shortages mean that many successful working professionals can't afford to live there, or can't find a healthy work-life balance if they can. The metropolitan areas outside of the city offer residents many of the same perks; living near the ocean, enjoying a mélange of cultures and living in an urban area—plus they are close enough to the city to get in when they want to. When timed right, drivers can get into the city from the outlying areas in under 20 minutes.

7.Raleigh, NC

Percentage of Remote Workers: 7.98%
2016 Median Household Income: $ 71,685

Raleigh-proper has nearly 500,000 residents, but the outlying areas of Wake County, called “Greater Raleigh” hike that number up to more than 1,000,000. It's one of the eastern US's greatest urban areas for outdoor activities; it has 9,000 acres of parks and 1,300 acres of water. There are endless trails that connect its parks for walkers, runners and bikers, and there is accompanying wildlife for enthusiasts to find, too. Culturally, Raleigh offers the state's art, history and science museums. Great food and drink abound, with more than 30 craft breweries, many wineries and restaurants. There is rich history in the area for research and technological advancement and industry, likely because of the academic vibe there. The 11 universities near-by include NC State, Shaw University and Meredith College.

8.Provo, UT (Provo-Orem, UT Metro Area)

Percentage of Remote Workers: 7.78%
2016 Median Household Income: $ 69,288

Provo appeals to professionals who are into outdoor recreation and healthy lifestyles. With nearly 116,000 people (as of the most recent census) Provo is Utah's third-largest city. It offers access to Utah Lake, the third-largest fresh-water lake west of the Mississippi, and also splits the distance between the ski areas outside Salt Lake City and the national parks and canyons of the south. Brigham Young University is in Provo, and combined with nearby Utah Valley University in Orem, brings a strong educational research background to the forefront. Academia is a strong base for many remote workers in the area. Local sporting events, cultural aspects and artistry also make Provo a desirable place to live. The faithful will find a great community in Provo, too: 95.73% of residents identify with a religion—93.35% are LDS (Latter-Day Saints), 1.38% are Catholic, and .15% are of another Christian faith.

9.San Diego, CA (San Diego-Carlsbad, CA Metro Area)

Percentage of Remote Workers: 6.97%
2016 Median Household Income: $ 70,824

The city of San Diego has 1.3 million residents, but its outlying cities and neighborhoods give it a total of more than 3 million. This brings it to be the second-largest city in California. It's as far south as you can get in the state before heading Mexico-way, and it sits right on the Pacific. Its beach communities and sunny weather are ideal for remote workers who like being on the ocean. Outdoor life is strong in San Diego, with surfing, hiking, golfing, fishing, swimming, camping, wildlife-watching and boating all available nearby. Defense and military is the area's top industry, which may offer some jobs in remote work, but it was also voted as the top place to launch a start-up in 2014. Its other main industries of tourism, manufacturing and international trade will appeal to remote workers in many positions, including administrators, consultants and assistants.

10.Bridgeport, CT (Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT Metro Area)

Percentage of Remote Workers: 5.86%
2016 Median Household Income: $ 90,123

The Bridgeport Metro Area is home to nearly a million people. The average home price is $423,000 and the average household income is $90,123. These perks, along with its diverse economy and its proximity to New York City draw many remote workers to the area. Education is a priority for Connecticut, where in public schools the city spends $18,582 per student, more than $6,000 above the national average. According to US News and World Reports, the state ranks #1 for its students' college readiness. Data USA lists the top industries in the area as Healthcare and Social Assistance, Retail Trade, and Professional, Scientific and Tech Services. The first and third of these fields are especially ripe with positions for remote workers and telecommuters.

10 Top Companies for Remote Jobs

While many companies have jumped on the remote work bandwagon, some have gone above and beyond to encourage working from home and create an inclusive, collaborative environment for remote workers. Job seekers looking to join a remote-friendly company may want to check out these 10 companies.

These companies were chosen for the following factors:

Offer remote positions
Fulltime remote employees receive the same benefits as in-office employees
Are listed on Inc. or Forbes top company lists (or both!)
Have earned at least 3.5 out of 5 stars on Glassdoor

Automattic
- Company size: 700+ employees
- Headquarters location: None! Everyone works remotely.
What they do:
Automattic is the name behind brands WordPress, Akismet, Gravitar, Cloudup and more. With a goal to “democratize publishing,” this innovative company focuses on creating tools to help make the web a better place. The company's employees represent 59 countries, and in 2017, Automattic was rated #43 on Forbes Cloud100 list of the world's best cloud companies.
Who they hire:
Automattic commonly hires for engineering and coding-related positions, such as JavaScript Engineer and Business Data Engineer. But job seekers may find open business-related positions in areas like HR and finance.
Company perks:
- Vacation: Open vacation policy with no set amount
- Company-sponsored life insurance
- Parental leave: Fully paid parental leave, including maternity, paternity and adoption leave.
- Equipment: Office space allowance and a WordPress-branded laptop on your four-year anniversary are among the equipment-related perks.
Current open positions:
Check out current openings on their Work With Us page.
Carbon Black, Inc.
- Company size: 825 employees
- Headquarters location: Waltham, Massachusetts
What they do:
Carbon Black is a leading cybersecurity company and monitors remote logins for more than 3,000 businesses, including Coca-Cola, Twitter and Under Armour. In 2017, the company was rated #48 on Forbes Cloud100 list of the world's best cloud companies.
Who they hire:
Carbon Black is a security-oriented business, so they hire engineers and research and development professionals. Additionally, they hire managers, marketers, and sales and account reps.
Company perks:
- Career Development: Employees can advance their careers through training programs, career-development plans and new learning opportunities.
- Schedules: Flexible schedules and remote work available for many lines of the business
- Leadership: Open and transparent leadership with active involvement from CEOs.
Current open positions:
Open positions can be found on their Open Positions page.
Fastly
- Company size: 320+ employees
- Headquarters location: San Francisco
What they do:
Fastly provides content delivery and image optimization for clients like Pinterest, Reddit and the New York Times. The company handles more than 4.5 requests per second on its clients websites, and its edge cloud platform and video and streaming services make sure content gets delivered to the end-user without a hitch.
Who they hire:
Positions are available in the US and UK or completely remotely in the fields of finance, IT, marketing, engineering, client services and others. Specific remote positions include Technical Account Managers, Data Team members for Distributed Systems, Network Engineers and Senior Software Engineers.
Company perks:
- Vacation: Open vacation policy
- Parental leave: Up to 20 weeks paid leave
- Benefits: Free medical, dental and vision plans
Current open positions:
Fastly lists their open career positions on their Career site.
Forward Financing
- Company size: Around 50 employees
- Headquarters location: Boston, Massachusetts
What they do:
Forward Financing “brings working capital to mid-size and small businesses.” The company was founded in 2012 and since then has provided funding for 3,000 small- and mid-sized businesses. In 2017 the company was ranked #15 on Inc. 5000's top list, and also scored as #1 Top Boston companies and #3 on Top Financial companies.
Who they hire:
Professionals in the following fields can find positions at Forward Financing: sales and development, product management, corporate strategy, underwriting and technology.
Company perks:
- 401k: Company-sponsored 401k with an up to 4% company match
- Health & wellness: Company reimbursement for gym memberships up to $60
- Office fun: Sports teams, summer Fridays, weekly lunches and more
- Charity: Company match up to $250 for charitable donations
Current open positions:
Check out open positions on their Careers Page.
HashiCorp
- Company size: 60 employees
- Headquarters location: San Francisco
What they do:
Provide infrastructure automation capability for companies as they move to cloud operation. HashiCorp offers seven platforms to better help companies “solve development, operations and security challenges.” When uploading development and optimization software used to take 15 hours, now it takes 15 minutes. Home Depot, PayPal, Stripe and Disney are all clients. HashiCorp won Forbes' 30 Under 30 – Enterprise Technology award.
Who they hire:
International and US remote developers, operators, security pros, marketers and engineers.
Company perks:
- Vacation: In addition to unlimited PTO, the company offers eight paid holidays a year, plus a company-wide shut down from December 21-January 2
- Insurance: Medical, dental and vision for employees and dependents from the start of hire, plus life and disability insurance
- Pre-tax deductions: Commuter and FSA accounts are available
- 401k
Current open positions:
Current open positions can be found here.
InVisionApp
- Company size: 325+ employees
- Headquarters location: New York City
What they do:
InVisionApp provides cloud-connected, digital product design for companies like Netflix, Airbnb and Twitter. InVision allows clients to collaborate in one place, animate and add interactions to prototypes, and put ideas on the screen with intuitive vector-based drawing
Who they hire:
Remote tech analysts, product designers, directors of operations, engineers and managers.
Company perks:
- Health & wellness: Free gym memberships
- Career development: Employee budget for conferences and books related to your position
- Equipment: Equipment allowances and home-office setup reimbursement
- Food: Monthly coffee shop stipend
Current open positions:
Check out available open careers on the Jobs page.
JP Morgan Chase
- Company size: More than 250,000 employees
- Headquarters location: New York City
What they do:
JP Morgan chase is a banking, investment and finance giant. It's ranked #3 on Forbes List of the World's Largest Public Companies. It offers everything from investment products, advising and strategy, and run-of-the-mill bank and credit card accounts. The company employees people across 100 countries, including the US, India and Hong Kong.
Who they hire:
Remote workers in the fields of wealth management, software engineering, human resources, infrastructure development and IT business analysis
Company perks:
- Health & wellness: Health coaches, counselors and wellness screenings for employees
- Parental leave: Maternity and paternity leave, plus backup childcare services
- 401k
- Insurance: Medical, dental, vision, life, accident and disability insurance
Current open positions:
Potential applicants can find positions specifically suited for remote work here.
Modus Create
- Company size: 100+ employees
- Headquarters location: Reston, Virginia
What they do:
Clients like Kaplan and Barclaycard use Modus Create's evidence-based digital design, software products, and corporate innovation, product strategy, and IT planning.
Who they hire:
Software engineers across six continents and more than 50 cities, sometimes by contract, sometimes full-time. Positions include front end engineers, automation engineers, back-end API engineers and freelancers.
Company perks:
The company doesn't currently list employee benefits on their website or job postings, beyond “competitive compensation”.
Current open positions:
Open positions can be found on the Modus Create Careers web site.
PeopleDoc Inc
- Company size: 165 employees
- Headquarters location: New York City
What they do:
PeopleDoc provides software development to help manage, streamline and automate human resources processes in a cloud. The program created a portal for employees to keep all of their documents sorted and allow for easy dissemination of new information, plus everything is electronic and user-friendly. PeopleDoc has 4 million users that see 50% faster hire time, 80% savings on paper costs and a 75% return in the first year.
Who they hire:
Account Executives, developers and sales managers. Currently positions are open remotely and in France, Germany and the US.
Company perks:
The company doesn't currently list employee benefits on their website or job postings.
Current open positions:
Check out People Doc's open positions here.
Zapier
- Company size: 100+ employees
- Headquarters location: None! Everyone works remotely.
What they do:
Zapier helps streamline and share information between more than 750 different services, including Gmail, Slack and Google Sheets. The company's Forbes profile lists it as a 2018 Top 10 Business Intelligence Trend. It was also on Forbes' 30 Under 30 – Enterprise Technology for 2017.
Who they hire:
Since all Zapier positions are remote, they hire people in positions of all kinds, including marketers, accountants, data scientists and researchers.
Company perks:
- Parental leave: 14 weeks paid leave for all new parents
- 401k: Company-sponsored retirement plan with 4% match
- Vacation: Unlimited
- Equipment: Computer and software setup
- Career development: Employee allowance for professional development
Current open positions:
Find Zapier's great open positions on their job site.