Definitely not. Remote work was the key to letting me not move for a job.
I’ve managed remote teams around the world. I know this violates the popular narrative, but remote hires generally either stayed exactly where they were or moved to bigger, expensive cities. We paid them more than they made locally so they often used the new income to move up.
I’ve only known a few people who used remote work to move to the mountains or countryside, but about half of them have moved back. It’s easy to glorify remote locations from watching movies or scrolling Instagram, but unless you have some specific draw to those locations it’s likely not as idyllic as it may sound. You could be replacing your work commute with an extra long commute to everything else you need to do, like grocery shopping.
That doesn't match my experience in the slightest - I've been on a remote team for almost a decade now. Most of the team moved when they got the chance, as do most new hires. Some move to the mountains, some to the ocean, some to rural homesteads, others to different cities, or simply to the home they want instead of the home dictated by their commute. A few have moved again over the years when they change jobs, but we're talking less than 10%. Even as most of us have all moved on from that original team, we still live where we choose because remote jobs are even easier to find now vs. a decade ago.
You are right about one thing - my grocery shopping is now 15 minutes away instead of 5. As I sit at my desk, looking over the countryside and watching my boys play in the snow while the birds flit about my window... I'm 100% satisfied with that trade off.
Why did they do that? Did they share to you a main reason? Is it access to groceries, as you mentioned? or better schools for their kids? medical care?
I find it hard to justify the increased rent and general cost of living.
There are advantages to living in cities! I live in an expensive major city (working remotely) and find it hard to imagine life outside of it (at least in the US). All of my friends/family are here, I have restaurants from practically every cuisine in the world, there are plenty of interesting cultural events, and best of all I don't need a car in order to do things.
Rent sucks, yes, but I live here because I like it here, not because I need to for my job.
I took a great paying remote job pre-pandemic when I was around 26 and initially planned on moving out of the city to lower COL areas (think 30-40 mins outside of a major hub). OP nailed the piece about living in true middle of nowhere adds more hurdles than value it creates, so that was always out of the question for me.
Three things stopping me from moving that haven't been mentioned yet were:
(1) I had to run out my lease (had signed a 1-year a few months before getting the job)
(2) Friends and professional network (all in the city)
(3) Fear of losing the remote job / not being able to get another one and having to move back into the city for a job
1 & 2 are fixable with time, but 3 always felt like too big of a risk. Granted, this was pre-pandemic so finding remote opportunities that paid well was harder. Not sure if I'd feel the same way if I had a similar choice in front of me today.
If you view a city as nothing more than rent and groceries and you get most of your entertainment at home, then big cities probably don’t feel like a good value proposition.
But if you enjoy going to events, eating out, socializing with a wide variety of motivated people, and otherwise experiencing everything a city has to offer, a big city is the place to be.
Neither answer is “right” for everyone. It’s an individual preference.
Better job prospects. I'm not even being facetious. I manage remote teams and see the same, people apply/join whilst residing in rural areas but almost invariably migrate to cities, attracted by the job market (and by nightlife etc but not as much)
There is the occasional outlier, that is someone who prefers to freedom to work from anywhere and keeps on the move, hopping about the globe whilst working remotely, but they are rare.
> There is the occasional outlier, that is someone who prefers to freedom to work from anywhere and keeps on the move, hopping about the globe whilst working remotely, but they are rare.
I have not had good luck with most (though not all!) digital nomad types, either as contractors or remote employees. My sample size is small because they are rare, like you said. However, the few that I’ve worked with felt like they needed extraordinary management attention to extract even moderate amounts of work relative to anyone else on the team.
And of course their peers and teammates hate it the most because they’re forced to collaborate with someone in changing time zones who seems to be working hard at avoiding work.
They get to evaluate and inherit the infrastructure density too.
Density of humans means density of networks of humans. This decreases the cost of having many things available. You want to be around other people that have justified those things and didn’t find it hard to, because you inherit their superior networks too.
My rule of thumb is basically: would I have a good time taking an aimless walk here, among the buildings? Are they pleasing to look at? Will I come across friends and neighbors on the sidewalk? Will I discover nice places to eat, get a cup of coffee, browse for books?
Many people simply spend the increases in their pay while fantasizing about what they don’t currently have.
Live in the country … “I need to be in the city where I can access more events and people to fulfill my life. The countryside is boring and making me feel x.” Live in the city … “I need to be in the country where I can have more solitude and enjoy nature to fulfill my life. The city is overstimulating and making me feel y.”
Some of us are nomadic by nature and simply want some place different every few years. Others want stability and remain in places for decades.
I used to fantasize about new places, expecting the change in environment alone to be impactful. Now I realize that changing locations will not by itself impact my life for the better, but the act of searching for a new home, discovering new places and meeting new people is exciting and invigorating.
Moving physical things sucks though, so minimizing physical possessions makes this lifestyle much smoother of course.
I’ve managed remote teams around the world. I know this violates the popular narrative, but remote hires generally either stayed exactly where they were or moved to bigger, expensive cities. We paid them more than they made locally so they often used the new income to move up.
I’ve only known a few people who used remote work to move to the mountains or countryside, but about half of them have moved back. It’s easy to glorify remote locations from watching movies or scrolling Instagram, but unless you have some specific draw to those locations it’s likely not as idyllic as it may sound. You could be replacing your work commute with an extra long commute to everything else you need to do, like grocery shopping.