Remote work increased threefold during the pandemic, but the numbers vary significantly from city to city and region to region. Almost half of D.C.-area employees, for example, worked from home in 2021, according to American Community Survey data.
Recently released data from the Census Bureau’s 2021 American Community Survey paints a more complete picture of the work from home trends upending commutes, lifestyles, and neighborhoods around the United States.
While remote work tripled between 2019 and 2021—to nearly 18 percent of all workers around the United States—the percentages varied widely by city and metropolitan region, according to an article by Tara Bahrampour for the Washington Post. In Washington, D.C., for instance, 48.3 percent of employees worked remotely in 2021—the highest percentage for any city in the country—followed by Seattle (46.8 percent), San Francisco (45.6 percent), Austin (38.8 percent), and Atlanta (38.7 percent).
The order shifts when considering metropolitan areas. When expanding beyond specific city limits, San Francisco (35.1 percent) and San Jose (34.8 percent) led this list, followed by D.C. (33.1 percent).
William Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institution, is cited it he article explaining that work from home rates correlates strongly with the number of college-educated workers.
A lot more demographic data related to work from home and other trends, such as childhood poverty, are included in the source article below.
Read the full story: D.C. was the top city for remote work in 2021, census data show
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