Delaware is top 10 for remote work job searches, per new report

According to digital mailbox provider iPostal1’s recent analysis of search data on Google Keyword Planner, Delaware has the 10th highest rate of remote job-related searches per 100,000 residents over the last 12 months of any state.

Terms analyzed included “remote jobs near me,” “work from home jobs,” “working from home,” “how to work from home,” “how to find remote jobs,” “how to work for amazon from home,” “remote work companies” and “remote work hiring,” among other relevant searches.

The top ten states most eager to work from home are dominated by southern and southwestern states, with Georgia far and away showing the highest number of remote work-related searches at 1,004 per 100,000 people. Georgia is followed by Florida, North Carolina, Texas, South Carolina, Arizona, Tennessee, Virginia and Nevada.

The top ten states most enthusiastic about remote work. (Courtesy iPostal1)

Cost of living, coworking options, broadband and more factors

“In 2024, approximately 16% of all businesses operate remotely in the U.S.,” said Jeff Milgram, CEO and founder of iPostal1, in an email. “This study has highlighted a continuing interest in remote working, revealing that people in Georgia are the most eager to find work-from-home positions. One of the reasons for this trend may be the cost-of-living squeeze and consequential rising inflation rates. However, it’s possible that the professional landscape would have transformed similarly after the pandemic, regardless of America’s economic landscape.”

In Delaware, we have seen an uptick in remote work in the state’s rapidly developing southern counties, which are also seeing an increase in residents, as the state becomes increasingly popular for people looking to relocate due to high costs. The 2020 Census showed that Sussex County, which includes the beaches, rural farmland and developing towns, grew by 20% since 2010 — nearly three times the national average of 7%. A large number of new Delawareans are over 65, in line with the trend of retirees moving to the First State from higher-tax states like New Jersey. Kent County, home of state capital Dover, Harrington and Dover Air Force Base, grew by 12%.

Delaware’s Broadband Initiative, which recently had its digital equity plan approved and now heads toward a goal of 100% high-speed internet access across all three counties, may also factor into the desire for remote work in Delaware: people in the lower counties, where there are fewer tech jobs, are now becoming more reliably connected and able to work remotely. No matter where you are in the state, you’re within about 125 to 200 miles of New York City, with DC, Philadelphia and Baltimore nearby, making it relatively easy to access jobs with remote options at tech companies in those cities.

We may get a better picture of how many remote workers there are downstate when The Mill opens its next coworking spaces in the old Nylon Capitol Shopping Center, a project that is currently under development. The original downtown Wilmington facility has drawn remote workers, entrepreneurs and freelancers to its communal workspace for collaboration and general human interaction. Such spaces are badly needed in Kent and Sussex counties, say downstate remote workers.

“We might be sitting on a huge ‘if you build it they will come’ opportunity,” Kent County-based remote worker Xavier Hopkins told Technical.ly last September. “I moved to Delaware to be quiet and unbothered. However, it doesn’t mean that I don’t want to meet other quiet and unbothered people.”