After the shift to work-from-home setups during the COVID-19 pandemic, attitudes toward remote work have changed with many workers now seeking the flexibility and work-life balance they experienced while working from home throughout 2020 and 2021.

Last year, Gallup surveys showed 45% of full-time U.S. employees worked from home either all or part of the time and two-thirds of employees in white-collar jobs reported working from home either exclusively or some of the time.

Remote work has even encouraged more workers to migrate to cities that offer more affordable living costs and employment opportunities with fully remote options.

To find the best places to work remotely in 2022, the real estate investment trust Extra Space Storage examined all of the cities where it operates and rated the best cities for remote work based upon their cost of living, taxes, unemployment and internet coverage and prices. Chattanooga, which bills itself as "Gig City" because of its citywide high-speed internet, was the top-rated city in Tennessee and among the top 10 cities in the U.S. The top cities for remote workers are:

1. Jacksonville, Florida
2. Cleveland, Ohio
3. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
4. San Antonio, Texas
5. Las Vegas, Nevada
6. St Louis, Missouri
7. Chattanooga, Tennessee
8. Omaha, Nebraska
9. Vancouver, Washington
10. Indianapolis, Indiana