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The Best U.S. Metro Areas for Remote Work in 2024: What the Data Shows

Austin, Raleigh, and Denver led a 2024 comparison of work-from-home prevalence using 2023 metro estimates. Here’s what the ranking can—and cannot—tell you about moving.
From TheFinanceBase Team4 min to read
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A 2024 comparison of 109 U.S. metro areas found that Austin, Raleigh, and Denver had the highest shares of workers usually working from home in 2023. That makes them leaders by remote-work prevalence—not necessarily the best places to live or work remotely overall. The ranking measures how common working from home was, not housing affordability, internet quality, job availability, or whether a particular employer permits you to work there.

Which U.S. metro areas had the most remote workers?

CoworkingMag compared 109 U.S. metropolitan areas with populations above 500,000 and complete data, using American Community Survey (ACS) one-year estimates from 2014 through 2023. Its 2024 analysis ranks the prevalence of working from home based on 2023 estimates. Austin, Raleigh, and Denver led the comparison. The reported rates below are the 2023 shares published in the analysis; they are not a 2024 metro-by-metro ranking.

Metro area Workers usually working from home, 2023
Washington, D.C. 21.9%
Charlotte 21.5%
Portland 21.2%
San Francisco 20.5%
Seattle 20.3%
Tampa 19.5%
Durham 19.5%
Phoenix 19.4%

Source for the listed rates and study coverage: CoworkingMag’s 2024 analysis. Austin, Raleigh, and Denver are identified as the top three, but the published evidence summarized here does not provide their rates for this table. Raleigh and Charlotte figures are also presented inconsistently across secondary coverage: Axios Charlotte reports Raleigh at 24.5% and describes it as No. 2, while CoworkingMag is the primary source for the comparison used above. Treat the exact ordering and Raleigh percentage cautiously rather than combining the accounts.

What the ranking measures—and what it does not

The Census Bureau’s ACS commuting data includes “worked from home” as a usual work or commute arrangement. It describes surveyed workers; it does not count remote-job listings, establish that a resident can work remotely for any employer, or measure the quality of a home office. From 2023, ACS subject tables added this category to tables with demographic and work-related characteristics. See the Census Bureau’s ACS commuting guidance.

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Remote-work prevalence can help identify metros where working from home is common. It cannot establish whether rent or home prices fit your budget, whether broadband performs well at a specific address, or whether a local employer will hire you. CoworkingMag’s study is a prevalence comparison, not an all-around relocation score.

How remote work changed nationally

The national trend provides context, but it should not be mistaken for a metro ranking. The share of U.S. workers usually working from home was 5.7% in 2019, rose to 17.9% in 2021, then fell to 15.2% in 2022 and 13.8% in 2023. In 2024 it was 13.3%. The Census Bureau’s 2025 summary says the share “has declined in recent years but remains more than double what it was before COVID-19.” See the Bureau’s 2025 commuting characteristics summary and its January 16, 2025 article.

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CoworkingMag’s historical analysis also reports 22,486,510 U.S. workers working from home in 2023, compared with 6,542,582 in 2014. Those are worker counts, not metro-level rates; the comparison helps show how much larger home-based work had become than a decade earlier.

A separate study offers a broader—but different—comparison

CoworkingCafe’s 2023 study evaluated cities rather than metropolitan areas and used a composite score. It weighted remote-work prevalence at 30%, economy at 30%, connectivity at 25%, and infrastructure at 15%. Its measures included remote-worker share, coworking-space density, cost of living, median income, unemployment, internet speed, public Wi-Fi, broadband coverage, walkability, and entertainment establishments. The study included cities with at least 200,000 residents and complete metric data. Its results should not be merged with CoworkingMag’s 2024 metro prevalence ranking: the geography, criteria, and underlying data differ. See CoworkingCafe’s city study.

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What to compare before moving to work remotely

Use the prevalence ranking as a starting clue, then assess the costs and constraints that affect your own household. A metro-level percentage cannot answer these address- and employer-specific questions:

  • Housing and everyday costs: Estimate rent or mortgage, utilities, transportation, taxes, and routine expenses against your take-home pay. Compare the actual neighborhoods you would consider, not just metro reputations.
  • Broadband at the address: Check service availability and expected performance for the specific home. A metro ranking does not guarantee that a particular building has a reliable connection.
  • Employer rules and eligibility: Confirm that your employer allows work from the state and locality you are considering, and account for any office-attendance or travel requirements.
  • Time zone and travel: Consider meeting hours, overlap with colleagues or clients, and the cost and frequency of required trips.
  • Workspace and community: Check whether coworking spaces or other suitable work locations are conveniently available, and whether their costs fit your budget.
  • Personal fit: Weigh climate, walkability, access to services, and other priorities that a work-from-home percentage cannot capture.

These checks matter because the ranking describes a workforce pattern, not a guarantee of lower living costs or better remote-work conditions.

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How to read the results responsibly

ACS figures describe differences among groups of workers; they do not show that remote work caused those differences. For example, Census data for 2023 put the median age of home-based workers at about 43.5, compared with 41.7 for the total workforce. In the same year, 3.6% of home-based workers were below poverty, compared with 9.3% of workers commuting by public transit. These figures concern distinct worker groups and should not be read as evidence that a metro’s remote-work prevalence determines an individual’s income or circumstances. See the Census Bureau’s analysis of commuting from home.

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Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.

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