If you work remotely and are dreaming about a different setting in which to plant your laptop, it might be time to make a move: States and cities are starting to offer cash incentives to people who move to their areas.
Vermont, for instance, launched a program to pay people $5,000 to relocate to the state. To get the cash, you must primarily work in your home office or in a co-working space in Vermont after moving there, and you must be a W-2 employee of a company that’s based outside of Vermont. The program has awarded grants to 33 people so far, according to Livability.
Meanwhile, in Oklahoma, you can apply for the Tulsa Remote program. If you’re employed full-time or self-employed outside of Tulsa County and can move to Tulsa within six months, you can apply to receive $10,000 cash and free desk space at a downtown coworking space. The cash is doled out as a relocation stipend of $2,500, a monthly payment of $500, and then $1,500 awarded at the end of your first year in Tulsa. Participation in some community events is required.
Or how about Butler County, Ohio? The Hamilton Community Foundation offers student loan repayment assistance of up to $10,000 to recent (no more than 7 years prior) college grads. While it doesn’t reward remote workers in particular, it’s an attractive amount to dangle before loan-laden new grads.
These programs seek to boost the population in areas that have suffered from “brain drain,” the term for when newly educated young people flee an area, never to return except to sleep in their childhood bedrooms over Thanksgiving weekend. If there’s not one near you—or applicable to a place you’d like to live—don’t be surprised if one kicks off in the future. If you know of a program that rewards new remote workers or other recent transplants to an area, share the details in the comments so we can all plot our next big moves together.