According to a recent paper by the United States Bureau of Economic Research, Washington, D.C. was ranked as the city with the highest number of remote job vacancies. The study primarily focused on English-speaking countries such as, Australia, U.K., U.S., New Zealand and Canada.
The researchers examined approximately 250 million remote and hybrid work vacancies. They focused only on vacancies posted between January 2014 to January 2023.
A key reason why Washington, D.C. was ranked first is because federal workers are the dominant workforce in the region and most operate from home. The top five cities composed of San Francisco, London, Glasgow and Chicago.
Remote workers in Washington have many choices to choose from when it comes to selecting an ideal place to work from. They can choose to work either in coworking spaces or in coffee shops.
Washington, D.C. is a major city and this makes it an ideal place for remote workers since densely populated cities are more likely to have huge numbers of knowledge workers. Knowledge workers can work from anywhere, and they only need an internet connection to complete their tasks.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of remote workers in Washington, D.C. between 2017 and 2019 was almost the average sum of remote workers in the United States. The total number of remote workers in Washington, D.C. was between 6% and 7%.
The total number of remote job vacancies in the United States tends to fluctuate across different regions. For instance, the total number of remote job vacancies in Miami Beach and Savannah has declined compared to that in western and northeastern cities like Colorado, San Francisco and Boston.
Companies are evolving globally and most are opting to shift to remote work in an effort to save on office space costs. The shift benefits major cities like Washington, D.C. and other western and northeastern states that are more remote-friendly.