It's settled. With the exception of some high-profile cases of mandatory in-person office work, the remote and hybrid work model is here to stay. According to Placer.ai, office attendance has been about 60% of pre-pandemic levels for several months, suggesting workers are now entrenched in their new routines.
The flexibility is giving rise to a new wanderlust of the American population, whether that means taking in new locations a few days at a time or laying down roots in a new community for a longer period. In 2021, the number of these digital nomads rose 42%, topping 10 million, MBO partners, a self-employment tech provider, found.
So, where to spend your lunch breaks and evenings once you're freed from the computer screen? It's probably wise to look beyond the most popular Zoomtowns like Austin, Texas, and the the Florida cities that are seeing the fastest growth in the nation, according to Zumper, an online service connecting property owners with renters.
Nomads should consider the Midwest, where cities like Columbus, Ohio, Kansas City, Missouri, and Chicago offer a lot of the things that matter to a remote worker, Zumper concluded in a May report. It based its findings on myriad factors including short-term rental prices, ease of access to airports and other transportation, restaurant and entertainment offerings, air and WiFi quality.
Some cities making the cut have been in the midst of revivals, such as Detroit, Michigan, where homeowners and businesses are both betting on further improvement.
The overall cost of living in some of these places was high, but that was often offset by the excellence of other offerings. The cost of a short-term rental held the most weight in the ranking.
Insider compiled the Zumper rankings as follows.