Report names Portland the best city in the country for working from home

PORTLAND, Maine (WMTW) – A lot of people got used to working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic and many people continue to work from home.

A new report from remote.com finds that Portland is the best city in the country to work from home in — and the seventh best in the entire world.

The report, titled The Best Destinations for Remote Work, looked at thousands of locations around the world and assessed them based on 25 series of data, spanning eight components:

• Internet Infrastructure
• Attractiveness ( a destination’s draw on visitors, which may include natural, urban, cultural, and any other type of attraction)
• Openness (a societal willingness to accept the other, as well as a degree of government transparency.
• Incentives for remote workers
• Cost of living
• Inflation
• Quality of life
• Safety

The top destinations, according to the report, are:

• Madrid, Spain
• Madeira, Portugal
• Toronto, Canada
• Auckland, New Zealand
• Tokyo, Japan
• Paris, France
• Portland, Maine
• Taipei, Taiwan
• Stockholm, Sweden
• Reykjavik, Iceland

The next highest cities in the United States on the list are Honolulu, Hawaii, at 19; Des Moines, Iowa, at 20; New York City, at 21; and Concord, New Hampshire, at 21. Montpelier, Vermont, came in at 32 and Boston was 36.

The unemployment rate in Maine in February was 3.4 percent, the same as it has been since October 2023. According to the Maine Department of Labor, the labor force participation rate was 59.3%, and there were 656,200 nonfarm wage and salary jobs in the state, which was up 700 over the last month and 9,400 over the last year.

Jobs in health care and social assistance in Maine increased 6,000 over the year, accounting for close to two-thirds of net job growth, according to the Department of Labor.

For every unemployed person in Maine, there are two job openings, on average.

Copyright 2024 WABI. All rights reserved.