Davenport tops Best Small Cities list for remote work

January 5, 2023

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The City of Davenport is No 1. on the list of Top 10 Best Small Cities for Remote Work, according to researchers at the free virtual work experience platform Forage. The tech training program – which announced on Nov. 30, 2022, that it had reached 1.1 million enrollments – released the survey results just before Christmas. Among the local leaders celebrating the Best Small Cities designation this week was Davenport City Administrator Corri Spiegel. “What many Quad Citizens sometimes forget is how remarkable our region truly is,” she told the QCBJ. “This recognition highlights the concerted efforts that the City of Davenport has made with regard to investing in our future. Amenities include an amazing park system, a vibrant small business community, a vast array of cultural amenities, and fiber-to-the-premise service that connects us everywhere, all while offering an attainable cost of living to all generations.” Added Quad Cities Chamber CEO LaDrina Wilson: “We're glad to see that others recognize the QC is a gem and rated us the No. 1 region for remote work.” “Quad Citizens know that we have affordable real estate and our cost of living falls below the national average, making us the perfect place to live and work, '' she said. “We have great arts, entertainment and recreation options, and it adds up to a great place to live, work and play. We're excited to welcome new remote workers to the QC. It's a smart move for people to make." This marks Davenport’s second time atop a best of cities list in 2022. In July, the city was named the No. 1 best place for millennial homebuyers among the Midwest’s largest cities in a list compiled by The Ascent, an affiliate of The Motley Fool that rates financial goods and services. Surveys like this one are not only important for the cities that make the Top 10 but they are designed to further serve Forage’s efforts to better serve its students who come from 3,000 high schools, colleges and universities across the country. Forage works with global companies to replicate the work that goes on at top companies to help students get the skills to be successful when applying and working there “Broadly, Forage's content is an extension of the company's mission to help students of all backgrounds make more informed, meaningful choices about their career paths and land a great job they love,” the study’s author Jenna Bellassai told the QCBJ Thursday, Jan. 5. “For this study specifically, we were interested in identifying cities where employees could potentially enjoy a lower cost of living while working from home, given the popularity of remote work and rising inflation,” Forage’s lead researcher said. “In terms of the value studies like this provide, we’re happy to highlight the cities that meet our criteria.” To earn the best cities status, Davenport’s weighted overall score bested 133 other cities including the following, which rounded out the Top 10:

No. 2: Carmel, Indiana.
No. 3: Topeka, Kansas.
No. 4: Lafayette, Louisiana.
No. 5: Metairie, Louisiana.
No. 6: Overland Park, Kansas.
No. 7: Columbia, Missouri.
No. 8: Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
No. 9: Fargo, North Dakota.
No. 10: Rochester, Minnesota.

To assemble that list, Forage researchers picked the principal cities of metropolitan statistical areas (MSA) across the U.S. with populations between 100,000 and 200,000, Ms. Bellassai said. Forage then ranked the feasibility of working from home, the affordability of the city and the availability of local entertainment. “To quantify a city’s friendliness to remote workers, we included high-speed internet availability, noise level, public library funding, the unemployment rate, and the number of snack and non-alcoholic beverage bars per capita, which includes coffee shops,” Ms. Bellassai said. Why? “American job seekers are embracing that work-from-home life,” Ms. Bellassai wrote in the study’s intro. “McKinsey’s American Opportunity Survey in spring 2022 found that 35% of respondents had the opportunity to work from home five days per week. In addition, an Upwork study found that 9.3% of people (or 18.9 million Americans) are planning to move because of remote work.” For those who can work from home, she wrote, “living in a smaller, more affordable city rather than a dense metropolis may be worth considering.” To gauge affordability, researchers rated the percentage of residents spending 30% or more of their income on housing, the median list price of homes, and the average of current prices across economic goods and services (price level relative to the national level). The study also examined the city’s arts, entertainment, and recreation establishments per capita to ensure remote workers have ample opportunities for entertainment outside of work hours. A detailed breakdown of the sources for the analysis can be found here. Data was culled from a number of sources for Davenport. In addition Ms. Bellassai said the study used data at the MSA level for two factors: the median home list price and the price level as a percentage of the national price level. “For example, for Davenport, we used data pertaining to the Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL MSA for these two factors,” she said. To arrive at the rankings, researchers normalized the individual factors by converting them to percentiles, then averaged those scores to get an overall score for each city. The study weighed some areas more heavily than others. For example, helping boost Davenport to the top spot, according to the study, were “exceptionally low real estate prices, with the median list price of a home being $161,300. Only 27% of Davenport residents spend 30% or more of their income on housing, which is among the lowest of all the cities we examined.” Davenport also scored well in terms of its price level relative to the national level (91.44%). On the negative side, at the time of the survey, Davenport was “only in the 53rd percentile for unemployment rate.” Overall, here’s how Davenport added up to No. 1, according to the survey:

Percentage of residences with 250+ Mbps broadband availability: 97%
Combined aircraft and road noise level: 38.44
Percentage of residents spending 30% or more of their income on housing: 27%
Public library funding per capita: $58.88
Median list price of homes: $161,300
Price level as a percentage of national price level: 91.44%
Arts, entertainment, and recreation establishments (per 10,000 residents): 4.47
Snack and non-alcoholic beverage bars, including coffee shops (per 10,000 residents): 2.69
Unemployment rate: 5.9%

Davenport tops Best Small Cities list for remote work

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