Rural towns across the United States are offering cash incentives to help attract high-earning remote workers.
Small towns throughout the country continue to face shrinking populations as Americans continue to have fewer babies, despite the uptick in people leaving big cities for smaller locales since the COVID-19 pandemic financial fallout.
To help keep small communities alive and economically viable, companies like MakeMyMove are helping towns attract high-earning talent through incentives like cash bonuses.
MakeMyMove is a platform that manages relocation-incentive programs. Remote workers earning high salaries can find perks such as $10,000 in cash, fitness class vouchers, and other benefits to relocate to small towns across the nation.
While the company’s COO Evan Hock says cash can be the initial draw, it takes more than a monetary incentive to convince someone to uproot.
“Cash is the hook. But no one’s getting rich off of a $5,000 cash incentive. And so that’s not why they’re moving. The programs that are most successful at retaining people are the ones that really invest in getting those people woven into the local community,” Hock said to Fortune.
The company has helped 4,000 people relocate since it was launched in 2021. California has seen the biggest share of people leaving through the platform, but residents of Texas and other states have also accepted offers.
“They can’t buy a home, they can’t start a family there. And in many cases, they’re able to keep their California salary and just operate on a Midwest cost of living,” said Hock.
Of course, towns do not simply want high earners to leave after a short stay; they want people committed to making their new community a lasting home. MakeMyMove measures the success of the incentives in terms of long-term outcomes, like retention rates, tax revenue generated, and economic impact.
“About 90% stay after their first year,” said Hock.
“We find that about 70% are still there after year three. For about every $100,000 of new income that we recruit, it generates about $83,000 of new economic output each year,” he said.