The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a notable increase in remote working and has prompted many North Americans to move out of urban centres to larger, more affordable homes outside the city. The American magazine PC Mag has identified the best work-from-home cities in Canada and the United States.
The following criteria were considered when choosing the municipalities: affordability, livability and access to reasonably priced high-speed Internet. Thus, the list contains cities where the median price of a property is below $500,000.
The city of Dieppe, New Brunswick, ranked first among Canadian municipalities, followed by several municipalities in the suburbs of Halifax because of their low-cost properties. In addition, Canada’s eastern provinces have been able to attract international talent to their businesses and educational institutions thanks to their linguistic duality.
Two Quebec cities made the list: Saint-Zotique, in 5th place, and Baie-Saint-Paul, in 9th place.
According to Statistics Canada, 38.9 per cent of Canadians were teleworking in May 2020. Jobs in finance and insurance (85 per cent), education (85 per cent) and professional, scientific and technical services (85 per cent) were the most likely to be performed from home.
