During the COVID-19 pandemic, a large amount of jobs began to be conducted remotely. This pushed the importance of fast, reliable internet more than ever and increased competition in the job market.
Now, 20% of all professional jobs are remote as it was discovered that working from home was a functioning and preferred method for many. WalletHub, a personal finance website, recently conducted a survey regarding the best state for working from home to highlight the areas that are thriving as well as those that struggle with the at-home work environment.
“It makes sense that the majority of people who can work from home would like to continue doing so after the pandemic for many reasons, such as the fact that it eliminates a daily commute and can offer a quieter workspace,” said Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub analyst. “But, working from home could also create increased job competition. People can be hired by companies across the world, but also have to stand out among a worldwide field of applicants.”
In order to identify the states that are most conducive for home working, the 50 states and the District of Columbia were compared across 12 key metrics. When the results were released, it showed that the state of Utah came in at number six on the list for the best states for working from home.
Utah came just behind Massachusetts and one above Texas while New Jersey topped the charts. Furthermore, Utah had the highest share of population working from home pre-COVID-19, coming in at number four. Utah also ranked number four on the lowest average retail price of electricity.
Alaska, Mississippi and Montana were ranked as the worst states to work from home. According to WalletHub, Alaska was ranked the lowest due to only 68 percent of households having access to internet access.
“On top of that, Alaska is the seventh lowest ranked state when it comes to cybersecurity and has the fifth highest cost of electricity in the nation. For many people, working from home in Alaska will be difficult, costly and risky,” Gonzalez said.
The study stated that while many companies are looking to bring people back to the workplace, similar to pre-pandemic times, some companies have discovered that productivity remained high or even increased when their employees were able to work from home.