The key line of this article is:
“A coastal paycheck…goes very far in places like Cleveland or Buffalo.”
If a company like Google is paying someone $150K to live in San Francisco and works remotely, bet that person is considering a move to a lower cost place like Cleveland/Dallas/St Louis if the company maintains the salary and not adjust the amount to the cost of living (whether companies would change someone’s salary for that reason is still an unanswered question)
If high earners are able to keep their salary no matter the location, then start to see the New Yorks and the San Franciscos and Seattles lose population, while the Clevelands and Buffalos and Dallases gain them.
As a young person, if I am interested in city living and currently live in a place like DC, the rent for a one-bedroom in the exurbs is the same as a nice downtown loft in Cleveland or Dallas. Wouldn’t I be tempted to make that move?
Or if am head of a 4 person family living in a starter home in SF (median price north of $1 million) wouldn’t a move to the suburbs of Detroit or Cinncinati be enticing if I and my wife could keep our salary?
https://theweek.com/articles/927890/where-americas-new-remote-workers-live
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