Texas Border Business
McAllen continues to earn national accolades; this time, for being a great city for remote working environment. The home-search website, Ownerly.com recently analyzed 445 cities across the nation, looking at rent and housing prices, cost of living, safety data, level of broadband and free Wi-Fi coverage. This year also added new metrics that included cost and availability of childcare, restaurants and coworking spaces, leaning on city-level data rather than metro-level data, wherever possible. For 2022, McAllen was ranked as number three in the nation – and number one amongst cities between 100,00 – 240,000 – on the list of Best Zoom Town Cities.
“We have always known that McAllen is a great place to live, work and play. This designation highlights the best McAllen has to offer its residents and the business community, to help accommodate and promote a remote working environment,” said McAllen City Manager Roel “Roy” Rodriguez, P.E.
According to the website, affordable housing, high-speed Internet, outdoor green space, childcare options and more were just some of the highlights the top 25 U.S. Zoom Town cities offer to their remote workers. While more employers bring workers back to the office as the pandemic appears to wind down, the tight labor market suggests flexible work options are here to stay. Many companies have permanently embraced remote work.
McAllen earned an overall score of 71.4, with its great food choices and lower restaurant costs, compared to other Southern cities. McAllen’s low cost of living and lowest rental costs among the Top 10 Zoom Towns also contributed to the high ranking. However, key to McAllen’s number three ranking is the recently created free Wi-Fi hotspots available throughout the city, as well as offering good choices for home broadband services. Other highlights included being a mecca for shopping and bird watching, with more than 540 species recorded in the area, which makes it a popular destination for Winter Texans.
“I am especially proud that our investment of CARES Act funding, in setting up free Wi-Fi hotspots throughout our community, for the benefit of our students, is proving to have an even greater impact for our business community, as well,” concluded Rodriguez.
- Small cities are havens for remote work. Fourteen of the top 25 cities for remote work have populations of under 100,000.
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McAllen Earns Top Ranking for Remote Workers / page 2 of 2
- The Midwest and Northeast states are best for remote work. In the top 25 cities, 11 were from Midwestern states, nine from the Northeast, three from Western states and only two from the South.
- The West Coast is not the best coast for Zoom Towns. Although California and the Pacific Northwest are known for tech giants that enabled the remote work revolution, the high cost of living locked West Coast cities out of the top 25 contention.
- New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio are the top states for remote workers. Cities in these states also do well when looking at top Zoom Towns by size and region. While cities from Southern states didn’t rank well overall, Texas and Georgia cities account for five of the top 15 midsize cities for remote workers.
Methodology
For this study, Ownerly examined 1,488 metropolitan, micropolitan statistical areas (MSA) and cities as identified by the U.S. Census Bureau. After vetting missing data and incorporating averages from MSAs and states where applicable, the final list of places and MSAs was limited to 445 cities.
The metrics used were ranked based on a weighted average of home values, rental costs, web connectivity, safety, park access, availability of coworking spaces, city and state-level athletic health levels and gym options, affordability of goods and services and utilities, as well as affordability and availability of childcare services and restaurant, using the latest data available.
Other data sources included the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, the U.S. Census Bureau, the Federal Communication Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Trust for Public Land, Yelp Fusion and Numbeo.
About Ownerly
Ownerly provides homeowners, buyers and sellers with professional-grade home values used by real estate agents, banks and lenders. With Ownerly, users get important home sales insights and can track the value of their single most important investment—their home.
