Rural towns are handing out $10,000 relocation bonuses to poach high-earning remote workers

"When a city like Tulsa, Oklahoma, can recruit nearly 700 households a year with $10,000 relocation checks-and keep 90% of them after the first year-it starts to look less like a post-pandemic gimmick, and more like a new model of economic development. That's the bet companies like MakeMyMove are making, as small towns and rural communities across the country compete to lure high-income remote workers who feel priced out of their home states."

"MakeMyMove is a platform that facilitates relocation-incentive programs, offering high earners perks like $10,000 cash, access to co-working spaces, vouchers for fitness classes and others in exchange for them moving into the community. "Cash is the hook," Evan Hock, COO at MakeMyMove, told Fortune. "But no one's getting rich off of a $5,000 cash incentive. And so that's not why they're moving. The programs that are most successful at retaining people are the ones that really invest in getting those people woven into the local community.""

""A lot of people feel priced out" of their home states, Hock said."They can't buy a home, they can't start a family there. And in many cases, they're able to keep their California salary and just operate on a Midwest cost of living," he added. Most of these people have incomes double than that of the median of the local community they move to, meaning there is immense return-on-investment for these communities."

Relocation-incentive programs pair cash payments and lifestyle perks with community integration efforts to attract high-income remote workers to smaller cities and rural areas. Programs commonly offer multi-thousand-dollar incentives, co-working access, fitness vouchers and other benefits to encourage moves. Cash acts as an initial lure, while retention depends on actively integrating newcomers into local life. Many movers retain coastal salaries while living in lower-cost regions, generating household incomes often well above local medians and producing substantial return on investment. Modeling of targeted packages shows the potential to attract dozens of households and generate significant annual economic impact.

Read at Fortune