This year has brought a number of interesting changes to business – one of the chief changes being a swift rise in remote work situations as employers have created new options to work from home to enable social distancing and follow state regulations.
Bend is no exception, but the city was already perfectly poised to tackle remote working possibility – in fact, it’s been a specialty of Bend for years. If you’re moving to Bend and interested in remote work, here’s what you should know!
1. Bend Mastered Working from Home Years Ago
In the Bend Bulletin, you’ll find this article from 2017, “Bend is the work-from-home capital of Oregon”. (The article has, understandably, been updated for 2020). The city has always been a friendly spot for freelancers and flexible working positions for people in a variety of industries, many of them working for out-of-state firms in the comfort of their favorite café or at work area at home. Back then, around 9.3 percent of workers in central Oregon worked remotely, higher than any other Oregon city area, and the ratio has grown since then.
2. Working from Home in Bend Can Be Lucrative
The American Community Survey cited in the article we mentioned had another important tidbit, too: Remote workers in the Bend area earned more than those working from home in other areas, 26% more than the median rate. While many of the remote workers in Bend are self-employed, other popular industries include management, finance, tech, science, and engineering.
3. From Oregon to the Rest of the Nation
By 2019, Bend was being cited as the Work from Home Capital of America by Startup.com: The number of remote workers had risen beyond 12 percent, and remote work represented a particular diverse number of industries, regardless of whether they had a physical presence in the city or not.
This was even more notable because the studies now showed that Oregon was also one of the best states in the country for remote work positions, with Medford and Portland also doing particularly well in this area – winning locations nationwide included Austin and Denver as well. But Bend topped them all, making it the most work-from-home-friendly city in the United States (we cover this a bit more here).
4. Working From Home is Good for Bend
We already mentioned that remote work in Bend has helped indirectly diversify the economy, as workers are part of a wide variety of industries, in and out of state, and are bringing revenue from those industries into the city. That’s a healthy economic sign, but there’s another positive benefit to this trend. The work-from-home industries that Bend supports tend to require higher education, which means more professionals with college degrees are setting up personal workspaces in Bend, helping to increase average education levels.
5. Co-Working Space are Also on the Rise
As remote work has become more and more popular, Bend has also become the center of another kind of trend: Co-work areas. While remote working is easier than ever, some projects do require in-person collaborating. Co-working spaces are made to allow coworkers to meet up for a session, set up, and get things done in person…without the need for a permanent desk or workspace location. These flexible solutions could become even more popular in the coming years as the remote work situations started in 2020 continue!
