The Top 15 U.S. Hot Spots for Landing a Remote Job

Working from home doesn't work for everyone, but for some of us it's the best option.

Approximately 55% of workers would like to work remotely full-time, according to FlexJobs. There are any number of reasons for this, ranging from how much money they can put into savings by working from home to a desire to be more productive.

What many people don’t know is that 95% of remote jobs require workers to be based in specific areas of the country. This is due to a variety of reasons, including legal, tax, and licensing issues.

To figure out which states have the highest number of remote job opportunities available, FlexJobs combed through its database and ranked all 50 states. Rather than look at the raw number of jobs, FlexJobs compared the ratio of remote jobs to the number of active job seekers.

Here are the 14 states (as well as the District of Columbia) offering the greatest number of remote jobs as of June 1, 2022.

1. Rhode Island

Top companies for remote jobs: Citizens Bank and CVS Health

2. Washington, D.C.

Top companies for remote jobs: American Red Cross and Vox Media

3. Delaware

Top companies for remote jobs: Chemours and Marlette Funding

4. North Dakota

Top companies for remote jobs: Noridian Healthcare Solutions and Ulteig

5. Maine

Top companies for remote jobs: IDEXX Laboratories and Jackson Laboratory

6. Vermont

Top companies for remote jobs: Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC) and University of Vermont

7. South Dakota

Top companies for remote jobs: Daktronics and Sanford Health

8. New Hampshire

Top companies for remote jobs: Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) and Skillsoft

9. West Virginia

Top companies for remote jobs: ACCEL Schools and American Public University System (APUS)

10. Nebraska

Top companies for remote jobs: Ameritas and Nelnet

11. Wyoming

Top companies for remote jobs: Fastly and Mia Share

12. Utah

Top companies for remote jobs: Pluralsight and Western Governors University (WGU)

13. Connecticut

Top companies for remote jobs: Cigna and The Hartford

14. Kentucky

Top companies for remote jobs: Certilytics and Humana

15. Massachusetts

Top companies for remote jobs: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) and Thermo Fisher Scientific

Top reasons people want to work from home

When FlexJobs dug into why people prefer to work from here, here's part of what they found:

• Money savings: FlexJobs estimates that people who work from home just half of the time can save around $4,000 per year in gas, car maintenance, parking fees, and other expenses associated with going into an office. That's an extra $4,000 to save or invest.
• Greater work-life balance: In short, the flexibility of working from home allows employees to control their work schedule. They can do their jobs and keep up with personal needs.
• Less stress caused by a commute: The average American worker spends nearly an hour a day getting to and from work. That's an hour they could have used in a more productive way.
• Ability to live where they desire: Let's say someone lives in a rural community with few job options. Working remotely allows them to stay put. On the other hand, some remote workers enjoy having the ability to be "digital nomads," traveling as they work.
• Increased productivity: We all want to be good at our jobs, and many who work from home find that they're less distracted and more productive. During the pandemic, 51% of remote workers said they were getting more work done from a home office. In the majority of cases, it was because they had fewer interruptions and a quiet work environment.

Working from home can have its own challenges and it's certainly not for everyone, but for those who do wish to work remotely, the number of options appear to be growing.