Harrison Giraud

 During the COVID-19 pandemic, all non-essential businesses had to close their buildings, forcing millions across the nation to adopt a work-from-home lifestyle. While the country has now reopened due to increased vaccine distribution, plenty of workspaces have kept that same structure in place. Around 20% of professional jobs were still remote going into 2022.

While businesses embrace the conditions, those forced to work out of their home office might not have the best conditions to do so. The best work-from-home environment includes low costs, reasonable comfort and a high level of security.

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Exactly how easy it is to work remotely can depend greatly on where you live. In order to find the states that provide the best conditions for working from home, Wallet Hub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 12 key metrics. The data set ranges from the share of workers working from home to internet cost to cybersecurity, and considers factors like how large and how crowded homes are in each state.

Rounding out the top five was Massachusetts, which ranked number one for households with internet access-one of the study’s key metrics. In about half of Massachusetts’ counties – eight of 14 – measured by a recent Federal Communications Commission study, broadband access is available to at least 98% of residents.

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Also helping Massachusetts claim its number-five finish was the cost of electricity in the Bay State. Out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, Massachusetts ranked forty-ninth for retail electricity costs.

Falling behind the Commonwealth, but still catching the top ten, was New York State. Most notably, the Empire State placed in third for largest home size by square foot. Plenty of space to set up that home office- but factoring in internet cost and availability dropped the state down to number ten.

BEST STATES FOR REMOTE WORK.

Overall Rank      State                         Total Score 

1.                          New Jersey                66.75 

2.                        District of Columbia,  64.29 

3.                        Delaware                       64.03 

4.                       Connecticut                 62.18 

5.                        Massachusetts          61.87 

6.                        Utah                              61.87 

7.                        Texas                            61.59 

8.                        Washington               61.57 

9.                        Maryland                    61.48 

10.                      New York                    61.11 

11.                      Tennessee                  60.31 

12.                     Georgia                       60.06 

13.                     Virginia                        59.86 

14.                    Arizona                        59.65 

15.                    Nevada                       59.63 

16.                   California                    59.54 

17.                    North Carolina         59.53 

18.                   Florida                         59.50 

19.                  Rhode Island              59.38 

20.                Ohio                               59.36

21.                 Oregon                         58.71 

22.                Pennsylvania               58.64 

23.                Minnesota                    58.52 

24.                Wisconsin                     57.22 

25.               New Hampshire           57.21 

26.               Illinois                             56.90 

27.               Michigan                       56.03 

28.              Indiana                           55.94 

29.             Colorado                        55.42 

30.             Kentucky                        55.21 

31.              Nebraska                       55.09 

32.             Kansas                           54.96 

33.            Alabama                         54.94 

34.            Louisiana                        54.80 

35.            South Carolina              54.50 

36.            South Dakota                 53.92 

37.             Idaho                                53.72 

38.            Missouri                           51.74 

39.           Maine                                51.73 

40.           Iowa                                   51.20 

41.            Vermont                            51.03 

42.           West Virginia                   49.43 

43.           New Mexico                    49.14 

44.           Hawaii                               47.87 

45.           Wyoming                          47.45 

46.           Oklahoma                        47.15 

47.            Arkansas                         46.75 

48.           North Dakota                  46.59 

49.           Montana                          45.54 

50.           Mississippi                     43.79 

51.             Alaska                             34.74 

Courtesy WalletHub.