{"id":9756,"date":"2022-06-22T19:19:47","date_gmt":"2022-06-23T00:19:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.jlbn.net\/?p=9756"},"modified":"2022-06-22T19:19:48","modified_gmt":"2022-06-23T00:19:48","slug":"remote-workers-move-to-chattanooga-for-a-better-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.jlbn.net\/?p=9756","title":{"rendered":"Remote workers move to Chattanooga for a better life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul><li>Chattanooga, Tennessee bills itself as a haven for remote workers, and they may be right.<\/li><li>The city\u2019s population grew during the pandemic, while many other cities shrank.<\/li><li>Newcomers enjoy relatively affordable home prices, a tight-knit community, and super-fast internet.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Rachel Pohl, a senior manager of partnerships and donations at a global software development company, and her husband, Jesse Rosenthal, a senior vice president at a health care company, realized it was time to leave San Francisco shortly after the pandemic will hit the US<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His employers relaxed work-from-home policies. Pohl, from Florida, and Rosenthal, from Virginia, felt no real connection to California. Once the opportunity to leave arose, they questioned why they should stay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe thought, what are we doing here?\u201d said Pohl, 32. \u201cWe both work out of our little, little two-bedroom apartment. We had nothing to do with California, other than the skyrocketing housing prices and homeless crises there. We thought, \u2018It\u2019s time to go.&#8217;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In October 2020, the couple packed what they could into their car and set off on a year-long journey to find a new place to call home. They explored a series of southern cities, from Nashville to Charlottesville, Virginia, and Asheville, North Carolina, to Charleston, South Carolina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After seriously considering Durham, North Carolina, Pohl and Rosenthal, 38, visited a friend in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in April 2021. They were impressed by the friendliness of the residents and the manageable size of the city of 181,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe thought, \u2018We\u2019re going to live in Chattanooga. We\u2019re going to do it,&#8217;\u201d Pohl told Insider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The couple bought a 4,000-square-foot house in December but refused to share the price. The median listing price for a home in San Francisco is currently $1.3 million, according to Realtor.com. In Chattanooga, it\u2019s around $300,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In fact, Chattanooga has a lot to like, and not just for Pohl and Rosenthal. Easy access to outdoor adventures, a strong sense of community, and blazing-fast internet speeds have made the city along the Tennessee River, which is almost equidistant between Nashville and Atlanta, an attractive destination for remote workers, especially those tired of the most expensive metropolises.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Population figures indicate that Chattanooga has been a city on the rise for more than a decade. The city\u2019s population has grown from 167,674 in 2010 to 181,099 in 2020, according to&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.census.gov\/quickfacts\/chattanoogacitytennessee\" target=\"_blank\">US Census data<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The size of its growth during the pandemic was more modest. Chattanooga population\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.census.gov\/quickfacts\/chattanoogacitytennessee\" target=\"_blank\">increased by 0.5%<\/a>between July 2020 and July 2021, according to the Census, in line with other small US cities. By contrast, major hubs like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco lost residents during that time period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>EPB, the local electricity and internet company, reports that more than 10,000 people who started electric service between May 2020 and August 2021 did not previously list a Chattanooga address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The city\u2019s mayor, Tim Kelly, touts it as a haven for remote workers, and coworking space managers and many residents seem to agree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Chattanooga\u2019s main brag? fast internet<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>According to a\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/5-million-people-moved-because-of-remote-work-since-2020-2022-3\" target=\"_blank\">study from the flexible work platform Upwork<\/a>Nearly 5 million people in the US have moved to a new location since the start of the pandemic because they can work remotely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sukriti Chadha, a 28-year-old product manager at Spotify, moved from New York City to Chattanooga\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/spotify-product-manager-moved-nyc-chattanooga-tennessee-2021-8\" target=\"_blank\">and couldn\u2019t be happier<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She told Insider in August 2021 that her Chattanooga housing costs were two-thirds of her New York expenses, while food is about 20% cheaper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI found it ticked almost every factor I was looking for in a new home: the ability to work remotely, access to nature, an airport, and good food,\u201d she told Insider in August 2021. \u201cI had forgotten what a blessing it is to be among trees, waterfalls, wild rabbits and the occasional family of armadillos on the back porch.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>EPB installed a citywide fiber network in 2010, making it the first US city with a gigabit network, which has put Chattanooga on&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcmag.com\/news\/the-best-work-from-home-cities-for-2021\" target=\"_blank\">list of cities with the fastest internet<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The speed is really noticeable to the residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s wonderful internet connectivity that\u2019s honestly better than San Francisco,\u201d Pohl said. \u201cThere\u2019s definitely a remote work community to tap into.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Chattanooga coworking spaces are booming<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Coworking space operators in Chattanooga said they\u2019ve seen a rise in new members who can work remotely but still want to connect with others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Erin Dicks, manager of\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/espaces.com\/locations\/office-space-chattanooga\/\" target=\"_blank\">e|spaces<\/a>a southern coworking chain with a downtown Chattanooga location, recalled meeting a tech salesperson from Raleigh who bumped into Chattanooga during his travels, loved it and is now a member of e|spaces and pays $200 a month , said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFor a year and a half, he was traveling on Airbnb from different cities,\u201d he added. \u201cHe passed through Chattanooga a few months ago over the winter, and then he ended up coming back and now lives here full time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>E|space\u2019s membership increased 325% from June 2019 to June 2022, according to Dicks, though he declined to provide specific membership numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve definitely heard of people who work for larger companies now having the option to work remotely: programmers, developers, a lot of vendors, whether it\u2019s for startups or larger companies,\u201d Mary Stargel, community manager at the co-working space&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.societyofwork.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">work society,<\/a>&nbsp;said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both e|spaces and the Society of Work host weekly meetups for networking and socializing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe have coworking memberships and then office space, but we\u2019re really built around community,\u201d Stargel said. \u201cKnow where you\u2019re going to get work done, know where you\u2019re going to greet people who know your name and who you can be with in a way that adds some structure to your day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Chattanooga wants to shout its advantages from the rooftop<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Some cities, like&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/us-cities-pay-people-move-incentives-2018-7\" target=\"_blank\">Tulsa, Oklahoma and Savannah, Georgia&nbsp;<\/a>\u2014 offer incentives to move there, such as a $10,000 grant or paying for moving expenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chattanooga, right now, is relying on word of mouth alone and, so far, it\u2019s working. (All&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/chattanooga-finds-fresh-identity-as-a-tech-vc-hub-11653645602\" target=\"_blank\">positive<\/a>&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/audio\/2022-05-24\/chattanooga-growing-into-remote-work-hotspot-podcast\" target=\"_blank\">media<\/a><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/04\/23\/business\/dealbook\/remote-work-tech.html\" target=\"_blank\">coverage<\/a>&nbsp;it does not hurt.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI really think our quality of life here speaks for itself,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cWhat we have to do is keep telling our story and tell it well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kelly said he thinks the population will continue to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere are people who want to live somewhere with a more balanced lifestyle, where they can really feel connected and connected to the community,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cAnd Chattanooga is exactly that kind of place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chattanooga, Tennessee bills itself as a haven for remote workers, and they may be right. The city\u2019s population grew during<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9757,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[254,3421],"tags":[888,3439],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.jlbn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9756"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.jlbn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.jlbn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.jlbn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.jlbn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9756"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.jlbn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9758,"href":"http:\/\/blog.jlbn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9756\/revisions\/9758"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.jlbn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.jlbn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.jlbn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.jlbn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}