Remote working caused by pandemics is fading the recent trend of Americans staying in custody – but only for the wealthy.
Why it matters: Teleworking has been hailed as a geographical balance that enables talented people from across the country to find jobs in superstar coastal metropolitan areas. So far, however, benefits have been largely limited to wealthier workers.
What’s happening: The researchers analyzed around 100,000 moves last year and found that high-income individuals – who earn more than $ 100,000 a year – made up less than half of all moving companies, but made up 75% of those who said it was due to teleworking opportunities to have moved.
“The reasons for moving are very different between high-income households and low-income households,” says Peter Haslag, professor at Vanderbilt University who led the study.
- As the pandemic drags on, high-income households from cities like San Francisco and New York are moving to New Hampshire, Arizona, and Florida largely for its natural beauty and lifestyle, Haslag says. They cite the pandemic as the main reason for the move.
- The destinations of low-income households are more dispersed and their reasons for moving are related to work or the cost of living, as was largely the case before the pandemic.
But, but, but: These steps could still contribute to a more geographically equitable economy, says Susan Wachter of the Penn Urban Institute.
- Higher income workers are the avant-garde of a new “distributed urbanism,” she says.
- If migration from big cities continues, more and more people – across all income levels and job types – could join the trend.
- Wealthier people who move to new regions bring capital that can revitalize those places and create new businesses and jobs. And the ongoing exodus from the superstar cities could lead more businesses to move to all-remote models, allowing even more people to leave.
The bottom line: “The movement from San Francisco and New York is extraordinary,” says Wachter. “I don’t see it as a one-off phenomenon. I see it as a trend that has been going on for years and is just beginning.”
