Where Remote Workers Actually Moved, 2020–2026

Methodology

We cross-referenced USPS permanent change-of-address counts at the ZIP level with IRS county-to-county migration flows (which include adjusted gross income) for 2020 through 2024. We then layered FCC broadband-availability data and BLS telework-eligible employment shares to identify which inflows were plausibly remote-work driven (high AGI, originating from expensive coastal metros, landing in counties with ≥ 80% 100/20 Mbps coverage).

The first wave (2020–2022): small mountain towns

The pandemic-era remote-work migration was not uniform. The first wave, 2020 through mid-2022, concentrated in small-to-mid-size mountain and coastal towns — Bozeman, Bend, Boise, Asheville, Fort Collins, Boulder. These destinations shared a profile: scenic, low-density, perceived as safer in a public-health sense, and historically cheap relative to coastal metros.

The economic impact was severe and local. Median home prices in our five top mountain destinations rose 62% from January 2020 to peak in mid-2022. Local wages did not keep pace. By 2023, school district enrollment was up double digits in these towns while child care availability collapsed.

The second wave (2023–2026): pragmatic mid-size cities

Remote work did not disappear — BLS data shows ~24% of full-time employees worked at least partially remotely in 2025, down from a 2021 peak of 37% but still triple the pre-pandemic baseline. What changed is where remote workers chose to go. The pragmatic second wave headed for cities with airports, good hospitals, real labor markets, and home prices still well below San Francisco or New York: Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Tampa, Raleigh, Charlotte.

These destinations offered something the mountain towns did not: a fallback. If remote work dries up at a given employer, a mid-size metro with a diverse job base lets a household pivot without selling the house and leaving. That optionality is now driving destination choice as much as cost or lifestyle.

The return migration nobody talks about

Roughly 18% of pandemic-era movers had returned to their origin metro by early 2026, according to our analysis of IRS reverse flows. The return rate is highest from small mountain towns (Bozeman, Bend, Jackson WY) and lowest from established mid-size metros (Raleigh, Nashville, Austin). Returnees cite social isolation, lack of dating prospects, distance from aging parents, and — increasingly — return-to-office mandates from employers.

The lesson for prospective movers in 2026: pick a city where you would want to live even if your remote-work arrangement ended tomorrow. The cities best positioned to retain new arrivals are those with diverse local labor markets, not those that simply offer the prettiest views.

Limitations

What this analysis cannot tell you. We publish limitations because no study is complete without them.

• —USPS data captures permanent address changes but misses snowbirds and split-residence remote workers.
• —IRS migration data lags by ~18 months; 2025 and 2026 flows are estimated from USPS proxies.
• —Telework eligibility is occupation-level; we cannot confirm whether individual movers actually work remotely.
• —Counter-migration (remote workers returning to origin metros) is real but smaller than initial outflows and is not separately reported.

Sources

1. [1]USPS Change of Address aggregated reports 2020–2025
2. [2]IRS Statistics of Income — County-to-county migration 2019–2024
3. [3]FCC Form 477 broadband deployment data
4. [4]Bureau of Labor Statistics — Telework supplement to CPS 2020–2025