Texas is seventh in the nation in a WalletHub study of the best states for home-based remote work.
“The living environment is what made Texas rank so high for remote work,” said Jill Gonzalez, a WalletHub analyst. “More specifically, the state has access to low-priced internet plans and low internet costs.”
The WalletHub 2022 Best States for Working from Home found that the price per megabits per second (Mbps) in Texas is $0.12 for cable, $1.2 for DSL, and $0.33 for fiber.
“Internet cost was included because it’s a very important factor in determining how easy and affordable it is for a person to work from home,” Gonzalez told The Dallas Express.
The report found that the Lone Star State ranked first in living environment and 11th in work environment.
The living environment metric refers to how large or crowded homes are, as well as to the costs of electricity and internet. The work environment ranking factors in the possibility of working from home, levels of internet access, and cybersecurity, according to Gonzalez.
“The must-haves for remote workers are a good internet connection and a space where they can comfortably work without any distractions,” she said.
The study also determined that Texas ranked first in average home square footage, with a mean of 2168.8 square feet.
“The large average home square footage and large share of for-sale homes with a swimming pool are other factors that make working from home in Texas comfortable and enjoyable,” Gonzalez explained.
“The ideal square footage is one that allows someone working from home to be comfortable and have a space dedicated for work,” she said.
The study did not, however, factor in weather.
In one year, Texas inched up in the ranking by one place. Last year, WalletHub ranked Texas at number eight.
“The areas where Texas’s rank improved include households’ internet access, the average retail price of electricity, and the median square footage per average number of persons in a household,” Gonzalez said in The Dallas Express interview.
The top five states include New Jersey, the District of Columbia (D.C.), Delaware, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.
“The top five states are on the East Coast because a lot of people there have management positions, administration roles, and other jobs that allow them to work from home,” Gonzalez said. “These states also have widespread internet access.”
Although New Jersey landed the top spot overall, the study further found that Texas ranked 25th for the average retail price of electricity, compared to New Jersey’s 40th.
The average retail price of electricity in New Jersey is 16 cents/kWh, compared to 12.55 cents/kWh in Texas, according to the data.
