Remote workers wanted: Small towns offer cash, perks
Small towns across America have a message for the new crop of remote workers: We’ll pay you to move here.
From Maine to Michigan, communities are dangling incentives ranging up to $20,000 in cash and perks for outofstate folks who relocate and stay at least a year, while continuing their existing jobs from a distance. Besides the money, the main lures are lifestyle amenities — a slower pace, affordable housing, less traffic, access to nature, closeknit communities.
For towns and counties, it’s well worth forking out money to diversify their populations and boost their economies. New residents patronize local restaurants and stores, pay taxes, enroll their kids in schools and may volunteer or immerse themselves in civic activities.
“Many of these communities historically have been flyover towns,” said Evan Hock, cofounder of MakeMy Move.com, a clearinghouse for incentive offers that lists about three dozen nationwide. “Maybe they lost population in the last decade; growth has slowed. Brandnew citizens bring a lot of income and spending that is enormously valuable as it trickles through the economy.”
The nationwide swing to working from home is propelling incentive programs. Almost half of companies now plan to allow fulltime remote work, according to a recent Gartner survey. Meanwhile almost a third of Californians already working from home said they want to stay permanently remote, according to a survey released last week.
“It’s a magical strategic intersection of new workforce trends and a shift in geographic preferences,” said Brad Smith, Intuit’s former CEO, and currently executive chair of its board and chair of the Nordstrom board.
A Menlo Park resident, he’s loyal to his roots in West Virginia. He and his wife, Alys, are financing a new program called Ascend WV that offers $12,000 cash and a year’s worth of free outdoor activities and coworking space to people who relocate to the selfnamed “wild, wonderful” state.
Over the next five years, they aim to lure 1,000 remote workers, starting this year with 50 in Morgantown.
“Rural has become the new urban,” Smith said. “People want to be part of that Hallmark lifestyle in communities where they have a chance to know other people.”
To be sure, all the relocation incentives have fine print. They require income verification and proof that the new residents can work remotely. Some require buying a house (albeit at prices that seem laughably low by Bay Area standards). All want at least a year’s residency; some mandate two years. All limit how many folks they can accept.
The Alabama counties of Lauderdale and Colbert, called The Shoals, started a program called Remote Shoals in June 2018 with a $10,000 incentive.
“The pandemic changed everything,” said Adam Himber, vice president of the Shoals Economic Development Authority. “A lot of people are now in remote positions so the interest level has increased tremendously.”
The Shoals’ low cost of living may help boost interest. The median home price is $175,000. Applicants must earn at least $52,000 in their remote job.
“We have a lot of people from the West Coast who will ask, ‘Hey, I want to buy a house, can I get one for $350,000?’ ” Himber said. “And we say, ‘Yes, you can buy a mansion with a lot of land.’ ”
In October, Michigan’s Berrien County, home to about 150,000 people, launched Move to Michigan, offering $10,000 to transplants from other states plus another $5,000 if they enroll a child in public schools. The full stipend requires buying a house for at least $200,000 and staying two years.
Applications have poured in. The county now is wading through some 1,000 with a goal of recruiting 20 to 25 families.
“We wanted new people and new income,” said Rob Cleveland, president of Cornerstone Alliance, a nonprofit economic development organization that is sponsoring it.
Not all the offers are cash. A variety of small towns in Iowa, Kansas and Texas offer free lots, valued at about $3,000, for transplants to build a house. OpportunityMaine offers up to $367 a month in state tax credits for recent college grads to pay off their student loans. The grads can be from Maine or elsewhere. It also offers networking events for folks considering a relocation to get questions answered. “We found it accelerates their move to Maine,” said Katie Shorey, director of engagement for Live + Work in Maine.
Some programs include quirky local bonuses. Topeka, Kan., throws in a year’s worth of Jimmy John sandwiches; northwest Arkansas springs for a mountain bike; West Virginia offers free whitewater rafting, skiing and rock climbing. Many places include a concierge service to support new residents, access to a coworking space and networking events.
Tulsa Remote is among the biggest programs. Started in late 2018, it’s paid $10,000 to more than 700 people, many of whom moved to the northeast Oklahoma city (population 400,000) with spouses, children and other family members. It hopes to add 750 more “members” this year.
“In 2020 we saw a fivefold increase in applications as more and more people had the opportunity to work remotely and also were looking for communities in which they could have more space,” said Ben Stewart, executive director. “Places like Tulsa got on their radar.”
Of the folks who have moved there, 40% to 45% work in tech, 30% in business services. “The rest range from a Harlem Globetrotter to a Japanese opera singer,” Stewart said.
Stephanie Robesky, 45, “a California girl, through and through,” had barely heard of Tulsa a couple of years ago. But tired of San Francisco’s rising prices, social issues and traffic, she began thinking about moving elsewhere.
The Tulsa offer popped up in her news feed and kept following her around the web. Eventually she decided to apply and found that in itself an interesting exercise to crystallize her priorities.
Tulsa Remote, then brandnew, offered her a trip to see the city. “I thought, ‘Great, risk free,’ ” she said. “Honestly, in the back of my mind, it was a long shot.”
But after a long weekend, she felt blown away by the city’s amenities and decided to take the plunge. Her Oakland employer agreed to let her do her product management job remotely and she moved in spring 2019.
“Since then, I found a boyfriend, bought a house, am fostering animals and am very active in the Tulsa Remote community,” she said.
The money wasn’t the draw, although it “derisks” the move, she said. Instead, forging connections with other transplants through frequent networking events was the most valuable aspect. “It’s really hard as a remote worker to move to a place where you don’t have roots already and don’t know anyone,” she said.
The lure of cash isn’t enough for everyone. Ivan and Brooke Lugo of San Lorenzo have been thinking of relocating, especially since his software development job is now remote. “We could move somewhere else; I could do the exact same job I was doing in the office and lead a higherquality life,” he said.
They randomly encountered the Michigan offer. “That was a substantial amount of money to move and find a new place,” he said. But ultimately they passed. “That particular locale wasn’t a fan favorite for us,” he said.
MakeMyMove was started late last year by Hock and Bill Oesterle, both veterans of homeservice referral site Angie’s List. It seeks to help workers find offers, and give communities a channel to reach then.
“Suddenly millions of people were freed from their current location,” Hock said. “We realized it was a unique opportunity to help communities recruit these remote workers. We expect to see these incentives start to get richer and richer as competition increases and as communities understand the economic value of these folks.”
Smith also thinks that more places will offer enticements to move.
“There will be a large number of people who now have choices, and there will be communities like West Virginia and others who say, ‘Let me make the choice easier,’ ” Smith said. “Other communities will follow suit.”