The Best Cities for Digital Nomads in 2023

Written By

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.

Reviewed By

Lora Novak

Reviewed By

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.

Published On

April 26, 2023May 18, 2022

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