Vermont Leads Nationally in People Working from Home

Vermont leads all other states in the number of people working from home at 52%, according to an analysis of data collected by the University of Chicago by Pew Charitable Trusts reported in its online Stateline newsletter.

While the national average for working from home is 39%, Vermont topped the list at 52%, followed by Delaware at 49%, and California, Colorado and Oregon each at 46%. By comparison, Vermont’s neighbor New Hampshire has the lowest percentage of home-based workers at 18%

The report cites a paper by Law Professor Stephanie Stern, published in April by the Stanford Law and Policy Review, that says the trend in work from home is likely to lead cities and states to shift their emphasis from supporting dense housing near commuter transit to promoting shared workspaces, broadband availability and more competitive tax rates as they contend for workers who can live anywhere.

“Remote work is poised to transform land use law by untethering labor from centralized workplaces and blurring the boundaries between work and home,” Stern writes.