Many companies now offer permanent remote jobs, allowing workers the ability to live and work where they want. Some people are even opting for the digital nomad lifestyle of frequent travel while still running their business or holding down their “9-5” job. With that in mind, Today’s Homeowner conducted a study to find the best (and worst) cities in America to be a digital nomad.

We analyzed data on 100 of the largest cities and ranked them according to eight factors including coworking spaces, WiFi speeds, number of restaurants and bars, Airbnb prices. Keep reading to see our full list, our methodology, and the factors we used to determine these rankings. 

Main Findings

These are the best cities for digital nomads in 2023. The table below shows the overall rank, total score, and specific factor-category rank. The table is searchable and sortable so take a look as see how each city stacks up.

Overall Rank

City, State

Overall Score

Living Costs Rank

Working Experience Rank

Living Experience Rank

1

Saint Paul, Minnesota

85.1

6

1

23

2

Arlington, Texas

84.6

19

27

2

3

Tampa, Florida

78.4

55

12

6

4

Chandler, Arizona

76

73

5

8

5

Boston, Massachusetts

75.5

68

2

22

6

Minneapolis, Minnesota

73.2

13

10

44

7

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

72.2

58

13

24

8

Gilbert, Arizona

71.8

74

25

5

9

Baltimore, Maryland

70.8

39

6

65

10

Boise, Idaho

70.2

28

14

46

11

Jersey City, New Jersey

70

49

16

38

12

Irving, Texas

69.6

21

54

19

13

Atlanta, Georgia

69.6

20

95

4

14

Newark, New Jersey

69.5

41

28

29

15

New Orleans, Louisiana

69.3

64

18

25

16

Hialeah, Florida

69.3

24

69

12

17

Kansas City, Missouri

68.2

4

26

63

18

St. Petersburg, Florida

67.9

53

67

10

19

Garland, Texas

67.8

46

62

15

20

Cincinnati, Ohio

67

30

29

45

21

Plano, Texas

66.9

42

66

18

22

Honolulu, Hawaii

66.8

76

21

17

23

Seattle, Washington

66.7

72

3

53

24

Aurora, Colorado

66.3

10

55

39

25

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

66.2

27

19

75

26

Chesapeake, Virginia

65.7

32

47

35

27

Virginia Beach, Virginia

65.6

61

30

31

28

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

65.4

59

20

50

29

Spokane, Washington

65.3

54

8

90

30

St. Louis, Missouri

65.1

33

32

51

31

Winston–Salem, North Carolina

65

14

65

33

32

Orlando, Florida

64.7

57

98

3

33

Fort Wayne, Indiana

64.6

9

41

66

34

Las Vegas, Nevada

64

82

46

7

35

Colorado Springs, Colorado

63.9

29

37

61

36

Washington, District of Columbia

63.7

67

7

73

37

Indianapolis, Indiana

63.3

52

22

78

38

Raleigh, North Carolina

63.3

38

49

47

39

Tucson, Arizona

63.1

50

34

59

40

Chicago, Illinois

63.1

70

15

52

41

Portland, Oregon

62.6

66

11

77

42

Greensboro, North Carolina

62.3

23

33

87

43

Santa Ana, California

62.2

93

4

34

44

Norfolk, Virginia

62.1

43

36

74

45

New York, New York

62

65

39

40

46

Glendale, Arizona

61.9

89

35

11

47

Scottsdale, Arizona

61.8

98

74

1

48

Oakland, California

61

85

17

30

49

Detroit, Michigan

60.9

45

38

81

50

Richmond, Virginia

60.8

35

42

80

51

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

60.6

2

64

89

52

Long Beach, California

60.5

91

23

21

53

El Paso, Texas

59.9

17

73

57

54

Columbus, Ohio

59.8

22

51

85

55

Mesa, Arizona

59.7

80

40

27

56

Fort Worth, Texas

59.5

40

83

42

57

Denver, Colorado

59.4

34

61

64

58

Chula Vista, California

58.6

94

48

9

59

Buffalo, New York

58.3

47

80

49

60

Toledo, Ohio

58.1

8

76

84

61

Laredo, Texas

58

3

93

60

62

Corpus Christi, Texas

57.9

63

82

32

63

Madison, Wisconsin

57.4

25

71

82

64

Charlotte, North Carolina

57.2

44

77

62

65

Anaheim, California

57.2

100

9

26

66

Durham, North Carolina

57.1

18

79

79

67

Albuquerque, New Mexico

57

16

56

98

68

Cleveland, Ohio

56.6

15

63

96

69

Nashville, Tennessee

56.5

86

31

36

70

Reno, Nevada

56.3

75

45

48

71

Louisville, Kentucky

56.2

60

60

76

72

Los Angeles, California

56.2

97

53

13

73

Wichita, Kansas

56

1

72

99

74

Dallas, Texas

55.7

48

87

56

75

Fremont, California

55.6

81

24

71

76

Jacksonville, Florida

55.6

56

75

69

77

Lexington, Kentucky

55.4

51

78

72

78

Lincoln, Nebraska

55.2

11

89

83

79

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

54.9

12

84

93

80

Omaha, Nebraska

54.7

26

91

68

81

Irvine, California

54.2

90

81

16

82

Houston, Texas

53.9

31

85

88

83

San Antonio, Texas

53

37

86

91

84

North Las Vegas, Nevada

52.8

79

97

14

85

Sacramento, California

52.5

84

43

55

86

Lubbock, Texas

51.9

5

96

95

87

Phoenix, Arizona

51.8

78

58

70

88

Tulsa, Oklahoma

51.2

7

94

97

89

San Jose, California

51.1

87

44

58

90

Anchorage, Alaska

51

62

90

67

91

Stockton, California

50.1

77

50

94

92

San Francisco, California

49.4

96

52

43

93

Riverside, California

49.4

95

59

37

94

San Diego, California

48.3

99

70

28

95

Miami, Florida

47.7

69

100

20

96

Henderson, Nevada

46.2

92

68

54

97

Bakersfield, California

45.8

88

57

92

98

Austin, Texas

45.3

71

99

41

99

Memphis, Tennessee

45.2

36

92

100

100

Fresno, California

43.9

83

88

86

Summary

Our analysis found that St. Paul, Minnesota is the best city for digital nomads. It scored well for factors in both the living costs category and the working experience category. In particular, it has one of the fastest WiFi speeds of any city analyzed. 

Arlington, Texas, Tampa, Florida, Chandler, Arizona, and Boston Massachusetts round out the top five best cities.

At the other end, our bottom five cities are Fresno, California, Memphis, Tennessee, Austin Texas, Bakersfield, California, and Henderson, Nevada. These cities (with the exception of Memphis) scored poorly on cost of living factors.

Looking for digital work? Check out these remote data entry jobs.

Methodology

To find the cities which are best for digital nomads, we looked at data for 100 of the largest cities in the United States. We analyzed and ranked the cities using three major categories:

  • Living Costs
  • Working Experience
  • Living Experience

Each city was graded on an 130-point scale, meaning a score 130 represents the ideal city for digital nomads. Each factor was scored on a scale of 1 – 10 with 10 being the best for that specific factor.

Finally, we determined each city’s weighted average across all categories to calculate our data and used the results to rank-order our sample.

Living Costs—27.5 points

  • Average gas price—1.5 Weight
  • Short-term rental costs (average Airbnb costs)—1.25 Weight

Working Experience—55 points

  • Availability of coffee shops (number of coffee shops per 100,000 people)—1.75 Weight
  • Availability of coworking spaces (number of coworking spaces per 100,000 people)—1.75 Weight
  • WiFi speeds (average Mbps download speed)—Double Weight

Living Experience—20 points

  • Availability of restaurants, bars, and entertainment (number of establishments per 100,000 people)—Double Weight
  • Availability of short-term rentals (average number of Airbnbs per 100,000 people)—1.25 Weight
  • Crime (crime rate per 100,000 people)—1.25 Weight

Sources

  • U.S. Census Bureau
  • U.S. Census, County Business Patterns
  • Yelp
  • Coworker.com
  • Highspeedinternet.com
  • Alltherooms.com
  • Neighborhood Scout
Editorial Contributors
David Cusick

David Cusick

David specializes in data, data journalism, and all topics related to homeownership. He’s won multiple national awards for content marketing and comes from strong background in journalism. His work has been featured in publications such as The New York Times, CNN, Buzzfeed, Business Insider, Good Morning America, ESPN, and many more.

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Lora Novak

Senior Editor

Lora Novak meticulously proofreads and edits all commercial content for Today’s Homeowner to guarantee that it contains the most up-to-date information. Lora brings over 12 years of writing, editing, and digital marketing expertise. She’s worked on thousands of articles related to heating, air conditioning, ventilation, roofing, plumbing, lawn/garden, pest control, insurance, and other general homeownership topics.

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