The pandemic has changed the state of the workplace, with many companies offering the option to work from home. In fact, about 20% of all professional jobs were remote as of the beginning of 2022, according to personal finance publication WalletHub.
And even though many workers are starting to return to the office, the number of employees looking for remote work has skyrocketed in the past two years. An August 2021 report from Glassdoor found that the share of job searches for remote positions grew 360% between June 2019 and June 2021. So with the option to work from anywhere, what is the best state to set up the home office? Turns out, it’s right here.
WalletHub compared all 50 states and the District of Columbia across 12 key metrics in two key dimensions (work environment and living environment) and found that the Garden State tops the list of best states to work from home. The factors creating the best work-from-home conditions include low costs, reasonable comfort and a high level of security, the report stated. Other factors included how large and how crowded homes are in each state.
New Jersey received the highest of all scores at 66.75, ranking fifth for work environment and 11th for living environment. Rounding out the top five were the District of Columbia, Delaware, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
“New Jersey is the best state for working from home due in part to the fact that the state provides a comfortable and affordable environment for working remotely, with nearly 97% of households having internet speeds above 25Mbps. In addition, New Jersey has the second best access to low-priced internet plans in the country,” Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub analyst, wrote in an email. “Plus, New Jersey has one of the highest percentages of people who could potentially work from home, so many workers can take advantage of these good remote work conditions.”
The states that are the least favorable for remote work are Arkansas, North Dakota, Montana, Mississippi and Alaska.
Diana Polk, WalletHub’s communications manager, broke down how the Garden State ranked among the survey’s metrics:
Working from home in New Jersey (1=Best, 25=Average):
- 21st – Share of population working from home
- 11th – Share of potential telecommuters
- 4th – Households’ internet access
- 21st – Average home square footage
- 12th – Cybersecurity
- 29th – Internet cost
WalletHub asked a panel of experts to weigh in on the future of the work-from-home option as part of its research.
“The genie is not going back into the bottle and we will not be returning to a world of almost exclusive work away from home,” said Robert Gitter, the Joseph A. Meek professor emeritus of economics at Ohio Wesleyan University. “I can easily see a hybrid system where workers work on-site several days a week and from home several days a week. Frankly, the culture has changed and sometimes workers will Zoom into a meeting from their desk at the office if they have to be there.”
With the current labor shortage, Gitter also said companies should look for ways to attract remote workers and invest in methods for remote onboarding and team building.
As noted, New Jersey ranked No. 4 for the number of households with internet access. When asked what the most important indicator of a successful work-from-home environment is, the panelists’ top answer was technology.
