Work from Home in Montana? You Might Want to Reconsider
During COVID, tons of people suddenly discovered working from home. The US Census Bureau reports that the number of people working from home tripled between 2019 and 2021 (from 5.7% to 17.9%) giving a nice snapshot of how the workforce rapidly changed when the pandemic swept across the nation. It's estimated that around 12% of the workforce still works remotely post-pandemic and 28% have a hybrid work schedule.
My company briefly experimented with the work-from-home concept, with all of our Sales and Admin staff logging in remotely during the early months of the pandemic. With a basically empty office, our on-air staff continued to come to work for the most part. It was pretty easy to socially distance with like 6 employees in a huge office with isolated studios. Most of the hosts don't have at-home studio capabilities, so the on-air talent still came to work. Honestly, I was a bit jealous of my co-workers that got to work from the kitchen table, office, or couch at home.
And if you're gonna work from home, why not Montana?
Montana and other Mountain West states saw an influx of people who wanted to escape their cities during the pandemic... and if you can work from home anywhere in the country, why wouldn't you want to live in Big Sky Country? Although if I ever get the chance to fully go remotely, it would be somewhere with some palm trees. I'm thinking of Mexico, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, or maybe Belize. That's just me. Domestically, Montana is not actually one of the best places for remote work, according to recent data from the folks at Wallethub.com
We're third from last place for the best state to log in remotely.
They ran the numbers for states based on internet costs, internet access, housing size (you gotta have a home office, right?), cyber security, and a few other metrics to determine which states are best for working at home. Montana ranked 47th in the nation. You can read the full report HERE. Delaware, Utah, and Maryland were ranked at the top.
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