Business

When it comes to working from home, Mass. is near the top

Two Massachusetts cities made a list of the top 20 communities with the highest share of people working from home.

September 27, 2022

1 minute to read

Did you work from home last year in Massachusetts? If so, you’re not alone.

The Bay State had one of the highest percentages nationally of people working from home, according to new estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Nearly a quarter — or 23.7% — of all Massachusetts workers primarily engaged in remote work last year, a four-fold increase from 2019. The data, which estimated 2021 labor statistics as part of the American Community Survey, placed Massachusetts as one of four states with the highest rates of home-based work, alongside Washington (24.2%), Maryland (24.0%), and Colorado (23.7%).

Two Massachusetts cities made a list of the top 20 communities with the highest share of people working from home. Cambridge clocked in at 15th, with about 44% of its workforce working remotely; while Newton, at 17th, had about 43%. The list featured metropolitan areas with populations of 65,000 or more.

Nationwide remote-work rates saw a large increase overall, according to the ACS data. The year 2019 had about 9 million remote workers, while 2021 had about 27.6 million.