How Remote Workers Are Choosing Where to Live Based on Cost of Living

Years ago, the commute used to decide everything. Where you lived, how far you could stretch your budget, and which neighborhoods were even worth considering. That constraint is gone for roughly 15% of the American workforce, and the housing market has not been the same since.

The Math That Started the Migration

Remote work did not just change where people wanted to live. It changed what they could afford. From late 2019 to 2021, U.S. home prices rose nearly 24%. The National Bureau of Economic Research confirmed that remote work was the reason for 60% of that increase. Millions decided to move from their current work locations towards more affordable options. Some planned it. Most just did the math one afternoon and never looked back.

Those numbers are still being run today.

To afford a median-priced American home, an income of $112,131 a year is required. The average household brings in $86,258. That the gap is easy to close. Only 34.6% of current listings are affordable for the average household, and that number has not moved much. For remote workers earning coastal salaries, the solution is straightforward: take the income, move somewhere the income goes further.

A software engineer earning $150,000 in San Francisco, paying California’s state income tax rate of 13.3% and renting a one-bedroom for $3,500 a month, is not the same as the one working in Raleigh, North Carolina. That Raleigh engineer is paying 4.5% and wants to buy a house priced close to $500k. The median home price in Raleigh is $485,000, as per Houzeo’s housing market data.

Where People Are Actually Going

The most searched relocation destinations between December 2025 and February 2026 all share a similar story. Sacramento, Phoenix, Sarasota, Cape Coral, and Nashville are among the most in-demand locations. The exits are the same cities they have always been, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, San Francisco, Washington D.C.

Sun Belt markets absorbed the first wave and are now splitting. If you browse Austin homes on Houzeo today, the inventory tells the story. The number of listings has grown significantly, but so has the wait time for sellers. Sellers today are negotiating in a way they flat-out refused to two years ago. However, with the impending “return-to-office” pressures, it is interesting to see if this market slows down.

Cities like Chattanooga and Greenville are drawing buyers who want small-city life without the price appreciation that has already hit Nashville and Austin. Cities like Syracuse, Cleveland, and Minneapolis are showing up on lists they never appeared on before. Climate resilience and affordability are doing that work, and both matter more in 2026 than they did three years ago.

Climate Is Now a Consideration

Insurance has entered the cost-of-living calculation in a way it never had to before. Carriers have pulled back from coastal Florida, wildfire-prone California zip codes, and parts of Texas. What remains is more expensive and less comprehensive. For a remote worker, a power outage is not just an inconvenience. It is missed client calls, lost billable hours, and a day that does not exist professionally.

According to Redfin research, buyers are leaning towards more hyperlocal decisions. Instead of moving across the country to escape climate risk, they are shifting to neighborhoods within the same metro regions to find lower flood exposure or better grid reliability. The 2025 Los Angeles wildfires also accelerated that pattern, displacing residents with no realistic path back to what they had lost.

What Remote Workers Actually Want in a Home

In this age of working from home, home buyers no longer want only features in their house. A dedicated home office is no longer a bonus; it’s a necessity. Buyers are screening for natural light, low ambient noise, separation between work and living zones, and fiber internet before they look at countertops or square footage.

Portfolio living is what some people are calling the broader shift. Rent for three months first. Test the wifi. See if the grocery store is close enough on a Tuesday afternoon. Then decide.

What the Future Looks Like

Mortgage rates are expected to average 6.3% this year, down from 6.6% in 2025. According to Houzeo’s data, home prices are rising just 1% annually. For the first time since the Great Recession, incomes are growing faster than home prices. It helps. It does not solve anything yet.

Remote workers who moved early and bought in the right markets built equity. The ones moving now are doing it more carefully, with spreadsheets that include insurance premiums, state income tax rates, internet infrastructure scores, and FEMA flood maps alongside the mortgage calculator.

The commute used to decide everything. Now the decision is just harder and more honest.