The pandemic has created more opportunities for remote, self-directed and freelance work than ever. Today, around 10 million Americans say they’re working for themselves in some capacity.
The opportunity to work from anywhere is indeed enticing to many, and it begs an interesting question: If you could work from anywhere, where would it be?
To help you answer that question, we put together a list of the 10 best cities for freelancers in 2022. Our underlying analysis, which used recent metro-area data from the U.S. Census Bureau and state-level data from the Federation of State Tax Administrators, finds signs of relatively affordable rent; these metro areas also seem to have vibrant and growing freelancer cultures, as well as growing demand for goods and services.
Chattanooga and Knoxville are among the top cities identified for freelance work, according to the Nerdwallet analysis.
– Many of the top 10 cities for freelancers had relatively low housing costs. According to the Census Bureau data, 51.6% of U.S. renters paid rent that was less than the recommended threshold of 30% of gross monthly income. And some metro areas were well over that average, meaning they had higher proportions of people with relatively feasible rent expenses. Rent can make or break some freelancers. “Your number one strategy should be to keep your overhead costs as low as possible when you’re starting out,” says Lori Martinek, a Los Angeles-based certified mentor for SCORE, which is a national nonprofit that offers free resources to business owners.