5 Cities Sending Remote Workers Back to the Office
Remote work arrangements that spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic have leveled off in much of the country as more employers demand that workers return to the office at least part of the week. That’s the case even though nearly two-thirds of workers in a recent survey said remote work is the most important aspect of a job — even above salary.
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Not all workers are willing to make the transition back to the office full-time or even part-time. If their employer demands a return to the job site, the worker just finds another job. But for most Americans, returning to the office is something they are willing to do if it means earning the right paycheck every week.
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With large companies such as Amazon and Meta pushing workers back to the office, the “glory days” of remote work appear to be coming to an end, according to a new report from LLC.org. The report cited Census Bureau data showing that the number of Americans who work from home has dropped by more than 3 million since 2021.
Remote work numbers are not the same everywhere, however. LLC.org analyzed Census Bureau data from the 100 most populous U.S. cities and compared remote work trends from 2021 to 2022, the most recent complete data available.
Among its findings are that states on the East Coast have seen the biggest decline in employees who work from home. New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maryland, Virginia and Connecticut all rank within the top 10 states with the largest decline in remote workers, according to the Census Bureau.
In contrast, only seven states have largely resisted the return-to-office trend and are seeing an increase in remote workers. All are located either in the South or West: Florida, South Carolina, Wyoming, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada and Tennessee.
At the local level, here are five cities that have seen the biggest increase in sending remote workers back to the office, according to LLC.org’s analysis:
Santa Ana, California: In 2021, 20,689 of Santa Ana’s employees worked remotely, but that number had fallen by nearly half, to 11,366, a year later.
Norfolk, Virginia: Norfolk’s population of remote workers fell from 14,775 in 2021 to 9,088 a year later.
Huntsville, Alabama: Huntsville saw a 34.7% decrease in remote workers between 2021 and 2022.
Toledo, Ohio: Toledo’s number of remote workers declined by 29.1% from 2021 to 2022.
Bakersfield, California: In Bakersfield, 28.8% of remote jobs transitioned to on-site jobs between 2021 and 2022.
If you’re wondering which cities saw the biggest increase in remote jobs since 2021, here are the five cited by LLC.org:
Glendale, Arizona: 37.5% increase in remote jobs
Buffalo, New York: 29.2% increase
Laredo, Texas: 23.6% increase
Spokane, Washington: 19.3% increase
Arlington, Texas: 18.6% increase
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 5 Cities Sending Remote Workers Back to the Office
