New research has revealed which US states have the worst internet for remote working, with Vermont ranking bottom, behind West Virginia and Maine.
The U.S. Census Bureau revealed that between 2019 and 2021, the number of people primarily working from home tripled from 5.7% (roughly 9 million people) to 17.9%. As of 2022, 91 million Americans have been offered the option to work remotely either full or part-time.
Working from home brings a multitude of benefits. But in order for people to work from home efficiently, they need to be fully connected to colleagues, clients and customers at all times. So for remote workers and those who employ them, internet access couldn’t be more important.
To uncover which state US workers have the best internet, premium Texas-based hosting company Oplink.net looked into a number of factors relating to internet usage, including the percentage of people working from home, average internet speed (megabits per second, Mbps), cost of internet by state (per megabit, Mb) and the amount of people who searched ‘slow internet’ since January 2020. They then scored each of these factors individually, coming up with an overall score out of 100.
Taking into all the factors and the overall score, Vermont has the worst internet for remote workers with a score of 4.24. Currently only 19.50% of people in the state work from home, which is among the lowest in the country. Although the cost of the internet is low and the average download speed is high, Vermont has the highest search volume for ‘slow internet’ in the US (second only to Idaho).
The research shows New York has the best internet for remote workers, with an overall score of 100.69. In terms of download speed, the Empire State is 15th out of a possible 48, however a combination of low cost ($1.72 per Mb), low volume of ‘slow internet’ searches and high percentage of people (51.60%) currently working remotely means it topped our list, beating North Dakota by two points.
Based on Oplink.net’s research the five best states for remote working were:
1. New York
2. North Dakota
3. Virginia
4. Wyoming
5. Nebraska
The five worst states for remote working were:
1. Vermont
2. West Virginia
3. Maine
4. Idaho
5. Wisconsin
Dan Newman, President of Oplink.net says: “Remote working is now something that is essential in the modern workforce, so having good and reliable internet is extremely important and we were eager to see where in the US is the best place to do this.
“New York state has a lot of working professionals, so it’s good to see that the internet quality and connection reflects this. Vermont scored poorly in the research however wherever you are in the country it is essential to do some research and find the best options when it comes choosing an internet service provider.”