Together with
Tulsa, Oklahoma’s “Tulsa Remote” program that offered remote workers $10,000 to move to the city for at least a year has turned out to be a big success for workers, the city, and the remote work movement.
The Big Move: Mid-tier, non-coastal metros were losing valuable knowledge workers in droves prior to COVID. But the ability to work from anywhere — aided by overtures from cities offering financial support — is spreading the wealth in a few different ways.
Behind The Scenes: After five years in operation, a group of Harvard researchers decided to check in on the status of the George Kaiser Family Foundation-backed Tulsa Remote… and came away pleasantly surprised.
- 40% of the participants in Tulsa Remote — over 3,300 people who were typically selected for their professional work, desire to start a business, and willingness to give back to the community — were high-earners between the ages of 25 and 44.
- That’s a major shakeup from 2015 to 2019 when almost everyone who moved to Tulsa was over 45 and had incomes below the state average. The city was also losing 1,000 more college-educated workers annually than it brought in.
- About 75% of participants have ended up staying indefinitely in Tulsa, potentially bolstered by the community-building of the program (dinners, movie nights, etc). And everyone who made the move saved an average of $25,000 annually on housing costs.
- For Oklahoma and Tulsa, it brought in roughly $14.9 million in annual income tax revenue and $5.8 million in sales taxes from the remote workers.
The Future: Tulsa Remote was made possible by the share of people who could work remotely jumping from 4% to 43% during the pandemic. Tulsa wasn’t the only city with such a program — NYT reports that Topeka, Kansas, and Savannah, Georgia, also tried to woo workers. With the George Kaiser Family Foundation promising to underwrite the program for as long as it remains useful to the city, expect other places looking to reverse its brain drain to copy the model.
TOGETHER WITH CANVA
No design skills needed! 🪄✨
Canva Pro is the design software that makes design simple, convenient, and reliable. Create what you need in no time! Jam-packed with time-saving tools that make anyone look like a professional designer.