Some cities in the U.S. are paying people $20,000 to move there. As homebuying and the cost of living is more affordable in some cities around the country, people have started relocating. Consequently, MakeMyMove, an online directory, was created in December 2020 to help remote workers see the different offers available from cities that pay and provide incentives for them.
According to the United States Postal Service (USPS), almost 16 million people have moved during the pandemic. The main reason is that as remote work was implemented in most companies, people could be closer to their families and continue working. Now that things are getting back to normal, employees with flexible arrangements continue considering moving to places where living costs are lower.
What is MakeMyMove?
Before the pandemic, most employees lived in big cities such as New York or San Francisco as they provided more job opportunities. Going to the office, living in small apartments, and traffic jams were part of the daily routine. But when companies went remote, people started realizing that they could live in cheaper places and have a better quality of life.
Now that remote work has become the norm, and most companies are enabling flexible policies, employees are relocating. And there are a lot of cities that are making marketing efforts to attract digital nomads, paying them incentives, giving them annual membership to coworking spaces, and other types of benefits.
In December of 2020, MakeMyMove was launched. This online directory aims to help remote workers relocate by providing them information about the cities giving benefits and additional info about such places. Evan Hock, one of the founders, said that they are looking to boost local populations:
MakeMyMove started with a mission of identifying people with ties to the state and recruiting them back and placing them in area companies. Then, the pandemic hit. We have this whole new phenomenon. I guess it was home-based workers.
The platform currently lists 40 relocation offers. Each destination has the benefits the city offers, the incentive, and who qualifies to apply to them. These are 5 of the many offers you can find when considering where to relocate to, according to the directory:
- Morgantown, West Virginia – $20,000
- Southwest, Michigan – $16,000
- Augusta, Maine – $15,660
- Montpelier, Vermont – $15,000
- Britt, Iowa – $10,000
According to Hock, this new trend is just the beginning. The pandemic encouraged more remote workers, but now that offices are reopening, many people have questioned their lifestyle. They want to live closer to family or live in quieter, cheaper places than big cities. He said that cities are no longer looking to attract big businesses. Their new goal is to encourage employees to live there.
