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The Current State of the Remote Job Landscape

Topics: Data & Research
remote jobs
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Looking for a work-from-home job? Where you live matters. For a whole host of reasons, you’re more likely to land remote jobs in some locations than in others.

Why would it matter where you live, if you’re never going to go into the office? For starters, there may be legal or tax reasons why employers need their workers to live in a specific state. Companies may also want their employees close at hand for occasional training sessions or meetings.

In fact, FlexJobs estimates that only 5 percent of work-from-home jobs are truly “work-from-anywhere” gigs. The rest have location restrictions. In a recent report, FlexJobs details the current reality of the remote work landscape by state.

Where Remote Jobs Are Booming

Some regions of the country are more conducive to remote work opportunities than others. Employers that are based in the New England or Mid-Atlantic regions employ more remote workers than employers from other areas.

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Colorado was deemed the state where remote work has taken off the most. An impressive 7.9 percent of the workers who live in the state work remotely. Mississippi had the lowest remote work population coming in with just 2.2 percent of their employed population.

Remote workers come from a variety of backgrounds

Remote work arrangements aren’t just for millennials. Half of workers who telecommute at least part-time are 45 years of age or older. Only 41 percent of the total workforce is over that age. So, remote workers are actually a little older than the average U.S. worker. In fact, a flexible telecommuting work arrangement is most common among Baby Boomers, according to these findings.

Remote workers tend to have a little more education than the average worker. This study found that 53 percent of remote workers have at least a bachelor’s degree. Only 37 percent of non-remote workers have a comparable level of education.

[click_to_tweet tweet=”Remote work arrangements aren’t just for millennials. Half of workers who telecommute at least part-time are 45 years of age or older.” quote=”Remote work arrangements aren’t just for millennials. Half of workers who telecommute at least part-time are 45 years of age or older.”]

Telecommuting is on the rise

Remote work grew 115 percent in the ten years between 2005 and 2015, according to this report. That’s nearly 10 times the growth rate experienced by the rest of the workforce. In 2005, just 1.8 million U.S. employees worked from home, at least half of the time. But, by 2015, that number was up to 3.9 million, or, 2.9 percent of the total U.S. workforce.

Working From Home does not mean Earning less money

Telecommuting is a popular perk — 80 to 90 percent of workers say they’d like to try it. So, you might think that it would come with a trade-off in the form of a lower salary. But, that’s not the case.

Remote workers actually earn a higher median salary than the typical in-office worker, according to the findings of the FlexJobs report. Plus, working remotely can save money. This report estimates that the average worker can save at least $4,600 per year working from home.

For more information, check out FlexJobs’s report and interactive map.

Tell Us What You Think

What does the remote work situation look like in your area? We want to hear from you! Leave a comment or join the discussion on Twitter.


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