wfh life

Dallas neighbor logs on with the 2nd biggest remote workforce in U.S.

Don't forget to set that WFH alarm.

Working from home in Dallas-Fort Worth has many advantages – especially getting to avoid the area's notoriously congested traffic. And Frisco workers are luckiest of all. According to a new SmartAsset study, Frisco has the second-most remote workers in the nation.

Nearly 40 percent of all workers in Frisco, or approximately 46,400 people, work from home, SmartAsset found.

For the Frisco employees who do have to factor daily travel to work into their schedule, the average commute time is 27.6 minutes. The city's commute time isn't too far off from the national average, the report said.

"With the most recent U.S. Census Bureau designating the average commute time to work across large cities at 25 minutes, remote workers may save four hours per week or more compared to their in-person counterparts," the report's author wrote.

The Dallas-Fort Worth area has been clocking in as one of the best metro areas for remote workers for a few years, which speaks volumes to the abundance of big employers that have expanded their reach into the Metroplex.

Frisco is one of several North Texas cities with a significant number of remote workers. Just under 19,000 employees (or 33.2 percent of all workers) in nearby Allen work from home, earning the city No. 11 overall in SmartAsset's report. The commute time in Allen is nearly identical to Frisco's, at 27.4 minutes.

Plano (No. 23) isn't too far behind with 29.4 percent of all employees in the city working from home, which translates to 46,616 people. A non-remote-working Plano resident's commute time 24.5 minutes, less than the national average.

McKinney (No. 49) barely skirts into the top 50 with 27,255 remote workers, or 24.5 percent of the workforce. Residents in McKinney who need to travel to work would only need to budget 26.1 minutes into their day to commute.

Dallas (No. 126) has the highest number of remote workers in North Texas, at 110,249 people, but technically falls behind nearly every other city since it only amounts to 16.4 percent of all workers. And despite the constant Dallas traffic, SmartAsset says the city's average commute time is on par with the national average, at 25.1 minutes. Take that with a grain of salt.

Fort Worth ranked even farther behind Dallas, at No. 144, with 72,190 remote workers, or 15.3 percent of the workforce. Fort Worth commuters drive an average of 26.9 minutes to work, according to the report.

Other Dallas-Fort Worth cities in the top 200 and their percentages of remote workers include:

No. 54 – Richardson (23.8 percent, or 15,007 people)
No. 65 – Carrollton (22.4 percent, or 17,184 people)
No. 105 – Lewisville (18.5 percent, or 13,700 people)
No. 106 – Irving (18.4 percent, or 24,610 people)
No. 137 – Arlington (15.5 percent, or 31,948 people)
No. 182 – Denton (13.4 percent, or 10,866 people)
No. 198 – Garland (12.8 percent, or 15,664 people)

The city with the highest percentage of remote workers in the U.S. is Cary, North Carolina; 41.4 percent of all workers in Cary work from home, or 40,900 people. Commuters in Cary also have a better-than-average commute time of 22.2 minutes.

The U.S. city with the lowest percentage of remote workers is Beaumont, Texas. Only 3.7 percent of all workers in Beaumont work remotely, which is a little more than 1,700 people. Newark's 23.1-minute commute time, however, is better than the national average.

The top 10 cities with the greatest remote workforces in the nation are:

No. 1 – Cary, North Carolina
No. 2 – Frisco, Texas
No. 3 – Bellevue, Washington
No. 4 – Berkeley, California
No. 5 – Seattle, Washington
No. 6 – Arlington, Virginia
No. 7 – Fremont, California
No. 8. – Scottsdale, Arizona
No. 9 – Carlsbad, California
No. 10 – Washington, D.C.

The report analyzed 344 U.S. cities with populations of 100,000 people or more. Cities were ranked based on remote work data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2022 1-Year American Community Survey.

The report and its methodology can be found on smartasset.com.

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Politics News

Dallas narrows down field for new city manager to 4 candidates

Photo by R K on Unsplash

This is an Dallasite's sign to launch that small business they've been dreaming of.

After six months without a city manager, the city of Dallas has narrowed down the field of replacements to four semifinalists including one serving as current interim city manager, plus candidates from Fort Worth, Michigan, and Georgia.

Dallas has been without a city manager since May, when previous city manager T.C. Broadnax left to take a job with the city of Austin. Since that time, Broadnax's former chief of staff Kimberly Bizor Tolbert has served as interim city manager.

The city retained Baker Tilly, a consulting firm, to recruit and compile candidates. (Baker Tilly famously erred in the brochure it created for the position by featuring a photo of the Houston skyline instead of Dallas; they've since replaced it with Dallas.)

A spokesperson for Baker Tilly did not respond to inquiries but according to D Magazine, an email listing the candidates has been sent to the Dallas City Council.

The semifinalists include:

Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, Dallas’ current interim city manager
William Johnson, an assistant city manager in Fort Worth
Mark Washington, the city manager of Grand Rapids, Michigan
Zachary Williams, a county chief operating officer in Georgia

All have more than 25 years' of public administration experience and have worked in similar capacities in their respective cities.

Before working in Fort Worth, Johnson was Baltimore’s transportation director and Atlanta’s deputy chief operating officer and public works commissioner.

Washington worked in Fort Worth and Austin before becoming Grand Rapids’ city manager.

Williams has mostly worked in Georgia at the county level, including serving as county manager in Fulton County and chief operating officer in DeKalb County.

Tolbert began working for the city in 1998, first as the city manager’s assistant and later in the aviation department. Broadnax hired her as his chief of staff in 2017.

Unlike the Mayor and the Dallas City Council, the city manager position in Dallas is not elected but is instead appointed by the city council, and is tasked with executing policies, overseeing the annual budget, and managing staff at city hall.

The council’s Ad Hoc Committee will choose finalists, introduce them to the public, and make an offer in early 2025.

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