Renowned American entrepreneur, software engineer, and Silicon Valley investor, Marc Andreessen, discussed during a podcast with Tylor Cowen, that the rise of remote work, in the pandemic-era, could possibly change people’s lives.

Since early 2020 many businesses are maintaining remote work policies, and employees (with no strings attached) are allowed to leave cities for cheaper and less populated places, such as Kansas City, Missouri.

Why Kansas?

In a new ranking, Kansas was named the best city in the US to live and work remotely, according to a recent analysis from Icelandair.

The Icelandair ranking considers metrics of each city’s quality of life (cost of living, safety, health care), how easy it is to work there (internet speed, working hours, commute time), and environmental factors (climate index, air pollution).

You may be surprised as to why big cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York did not make the list, and that is because they “aren’t always best when you’re looking to take a step away from the busy hustle of a usual working day,” says Gisli S. Brynjolfsson, director at Icelandair.

Let’s take a look a the bigger picture

The factors that make a destination a great base for remote work are very different from the talent and opportunity that traditionally drew the ambitious to places like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York.

If employees prove their abilities and talent to work from anywhere, then that will reorder what cities they find the most attractive to live in. Let’s be honest, people are going to want to live in cheaper, smaller, and more pleasant places if they do not have to go back to the office.

Marc Andreessen certainly seems to agree. On the podcast of economist Tyler Cowen, he suggested the rise of remote work could represent “potentially a civilization-level change” and “an earthquake” in how we live.  

“For thousands of years, if you were a sharp, ambitious young person – and this is true of the Medici, and it’s true with the Greeks – you had to go to the city to basically get opportunity,”

“If you don’t have to do that, and in particular, if you don’t have to all go to the same city, and if you don’t have to all go to the same city that hates you, and if, all of a sudden, economic opportunity is decoupled from that, then people are going to be able to choose how to live at different stages of their life in a fundamentally different way.” Andreessen explains.

That means unexpected cities, like Kansas, will begin to skyrocket.

Overall, a big round of applause to Kansas for being such a spectacular place to live and work, and we bet more cities will begin to pop up soon. If Andreessen is right, be prepared to see a huge change in where we should live and what our offices should look like.

Remember that at Latamforce we can help you take your business to the next level of success, helping you find the right worldwide talent for the job.

Contact us for more information and let’s create your dream team with the help of experts.