In the post-pandemic era, big tech companies are mothballing or downsizing their corporate campuses and shifting to remote work. Amazon is letting corporate employees work from home until at least January; Google’s team will be telecommuting until next July; and Facebook is moving half its workforce into permanent remote roles. Startups are also going remote, with 71% of venture-backed companies saying they’ll be allowing workers to stay remote even after the pandemic fades – and many of those remote workers are looking to relocate to cheaper, less crowded communities far from the Bay Area.
That’s rewriting the rulebook for America’s so-called “second tier” cities. Instead of a winner-takes-all contest to host big tech campuses – and capture the jobs and tax dollars they bring – cities now have a chance to lure individual tech workers away from hubs like Silicon Valley, and bring new prosperity and opportunity to their communities.
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