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 RankCity, StateOverall ScoreLiving Costs RankWorking Experience RankLiving Experience Rank
1Saint Paul, Minnesota85.16123
2Arlington, Texas84.619272
3Tampa, Florida78.455126
4Chandler, Arizona767358
5Boston, Massachusetts75.568222
6Minneapolis, Minnesota73.2131044
7Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania72.2581324
8Gilbert, Arizona71.874255
9Baltimore, Maryland70.839665
10Boise, Idaho70.2281446
11Jersey City, New Jersey70491638
12Irving, Texas69.6215419
13Atlanta, Georgia69.620954
14Newark, New Jersey69.5412829
15New Orleans, Louisiana69.3641825
16Hialeah, Florida69.3246912
17Kansas City, Missouri68.242663
18St. Petersburg, Florida67.9536710
19Garland, Texas67.8466215
20Cincinnati, Ohio67302945
21Plano, Texas66.9426618
22Honolulu, Hawaii66.8762117
23Seattle, Washington66.772353
24Aurora, Colorado66.3105539
25Milwaukee, Wisconsin66.2271975
26Chesapeake, Virginia65.7324735
27Virginia Beach, Virginia65.6613031
28Philadelphia, Pennsylvania65.4592050
29Spokane, Washington65.354890
30St. Louis, Missouri65.1333251
31Winston–Salem, North Carolina65146533
32Orlando, Florida64.757983
33Fort Wayne, Indiana64.694166
34Las Vegas, Nevada6482467
35Colorado Springs, Colorado63.9293761
36Washington, District of Columbia63.767773
37Indianapolis, Indiana63.3522278
38Raleigh, North Carolina63.3384947
39Tucson, Arizona63.1503459
40Chicago, Illinois63.1701552
41Portland, Oregon62.6661177
42Greensboro, North Carolina62.3233387
43Santa Ana, California62.293434
44Norfolk, Virginia62.1433674
45New York, New York62653940
46Glendale, Arizona61.9893511
47Scottsdale, Arizona61.898741
48Oakland, California61851730
49Detroit, Michigan60.9453881
50Richmond, Virginia60.8354280
51Oklahoma City, Oklahoma60.626489
52Long Beach, California60.5912321
53El Paso, Texas59.9177357
54Columbus, Ohio59.8225185
55Mesa, Arizona59.7804027
56Fort Worth, Texas59.5408342
57Denver, Colorado59.4346164
58Chula Vista, California58.694489
59Buffalo, New York58.3478049
60Toledo, Ohio58.187684
61Laredo, Texas5839360
62Corpus Christi, Texas57.9638232
63Madison, Wisconsin57.4257182
64Charlotte, North Carolina57.2447762
65Anaheim, California57.2100926
66Durham, North Carolina57.1187979
67Albuquerque, New Mexico57165698
68Cleveland, Ohio56.6156396
69Nashville, Tennessee56.5863136
70Reno, Nevada56.3754548
71Louisville, Kentucky56.2606076
72Los Angeles, California56.2975313
73Wichita, Kansas5617299
74Dallas, Texas55.7488756
75Fremont, California55.6812471
76Jacksonville, Florida55.6567569
77Lexington, Kentucky55.4517872
78Lincoln, Nebraska55.2118983
79Baton Rouge, Louisiana54.9128493
80Omaha, Nebraska54.7269168
81Irvine, California54.2908116
82Houston, Texas53.9318588
83San Antonio, Texas53378691
84North Las Vegas, Nevada52.8799714
85Sacramento, California52.5844355
86Lubbock, Texas51.959695
87Phoenix, Arizona51.8785870
88Tulsa, Oklahoma51.279497
89San Jose, California51.1874458
90Anchorage, Alaska51629067
91Stockton, California50.1775094
92San Francisco, California49.4965243
93Riverside, California49.4955937
94San Diego, California48.3997028
95Miami, Florida47.76910020
96Henderson, Nevada46.2926854
97Bakersfield, California45.8885792
98Austin, Texas45.3719941
99Memphis, Tennessee45.23692100
100Fresno, California43.9838886

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.

27.5 points

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

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

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
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Coty Perry

Expert Writer & Reviewer

Coty Perry is a lawn and garden writer for Today’s Homeowner. He focuses on providing homeowners with actionable tips that relate to the “Average Joe” who is looking to achieve a healthier and greener lawn. When he isn’t writing he can almost always be found coaching youth football or on some trail in Pennsylvania in search of the next greatest fishing hole.

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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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