12 Best States for Working From Home

Many American businesses that were ordered to close their buildings by state governments during the pandemic lockdown have adopted a work-from-home structure. Today, 7 in 10 businesses employ people who work from home, up from just 1 in 5 before the pandemic, and more than half of employees who work from home say they want to continue to do their jobs remotely after the pandemic ends. In a new report, WalletHub notes that people who are allowed to work from home may not always have the best environment for doing so. It said the best work-from-home conditions include low costs, reasonable comfort and a high level of security, and these depend on where one lives. WalletHub researchers looked at the 50 states and District of Columbia to find out how easy it is to work from home across the U.S., comparing the 50 states and the District of Columbia across the dimensions of "work environment" and "living environment." They used 12 metrics, grading each one on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the best infrastructure, then determined each state and the District's weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score. See the gallery for the 12 best states for working from home.