Metropolis
Why So Many Cities Are Now Paying Workers $10,000 to Relocate
With the rise of remote work, cities like Tulsa and Tucson are offering big bucks to lure talent untethered by an office
Metropolis is a column about the intersection of technology, business, and cities.
It’s not Instagram, but it may as well be. Tucson, Arizona, flaunts its star-filled desert sunset landscapes, taunting you with the thought that this could be your backyard view. Northwest Arkansas sells itself with a thrilling picture of a mountain biker navigating an elevated trail: sparkling water on one side, lush forests on the other, and, one assumes, a bright, adventurous future ahead. Vermont’s photos — small towns, steeples, and all, framed by rolling green mountains — tug at one’s sense of nostalgia. These aren’t ads targeted at tourists. They’re marketing campaigns aimed at convincing young, hungry talent to take a gamble on a new place alongside a less romantic reason to explore a new city: cold, hard cash.
Call it the new $10,000 question: Would you move to northwest Arkansas? The area and an increasing number of cities and states — Vermont; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Savannah, Georgia — are providing five-figure incentives to lure talent. The $10,000 welcome…
