Workers in major cities across America are not abandoning the benefits of working from home, including flexibility and cost savings. According to recent Census figures, 15% of the U.S. workforce worked remotely last year, with higher proportions in East and West Coast cities and other large metropolitan areas. Boulder, Colorado had the highest percentage of remote workers at 32%, closely followed by Denver. San Francisco, San Jose, and Austin, Texas - a major tech job hub - were also among the top 10 cities with a high share of remote workers. Washington, D.C. had the 6th highest rate of remote workers among all cities, surpassing any state's rate.
Conversely, Mississippi displayed the lowest proportion of remote workers in the U.S., at just 5.5%, and the Southeast region generally had rates below the national average. However, every state experienced an increase in remote workers since 2019, prior to the COVID pandemic. The national trend shows a decline of less than 3 percentage points in the share of people working from home between 2021 and 2022, based on Census data. The work-from-home revolution is most prominent in large cities that heavily rely on office buildings and downtown economies, which have struggled as employees hesitate to return to the office.
To address this, ambitious redevelopment projects are underway in various cities, aiming to convert office towers into residential buildings and central business districts into mixed-use neighborhoods. While these endeavors are complex, challenging, and expensive, they offer potential solutions for creating thriving urban environments.