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.

dallas reports smartasset smartasset study workforce

Sprawling Celina

This booming Dallas suburb is the No. 1 fastest-growing city in U.S.

Facebook/City of Celina

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Small cities in big Texas metro areas were the fastest growing municipalities in the United States last year, and the Dallas suburb of Celina ranked No. 1 in the country, followed closely by other DFW cities.

Celina, Princeton, Melissa, and Anna — all part of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex — were the Nos. 1, 3, 4 and 5 fastest-growing U.S. cities with populations of 20,000 residents or more from mid-2024 to mid-2025, according to population estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

In general, smaller communities in the South, such as these, outpaced the rest of the nation, which has experienced a population slowdown since the start of the immigration crackdown last year, according to figures released Thursday, May 14.

Fulshear, in metro Houston, was the second-fastest growing U.S. city. The five Texas cities' year-over-year growth rates ranged from almost 15% to almost 25%.

In pure numbers, Celina, with only 64,000 people, grew by more residents — 12,700 — than Seattle and Houston, cities that are 12 times and 37 times larger respectively.

Small- to medium-sized cities hit a sweet spot between the largest U.S. cities, which were most impacted by the loss of immigrants from the crackdown started last year during the second Trump administration, and anemic growth in small towns, according to Matt Erickson, a Census Bureau statistician.

Texas cities dominate
Nine out of 10 of the largest population gainers in pure numbers were cities in the South because of a healthy job market and its comparative affordability. The biggest numeric gainers were Charlotte, North Carolina; Fort Worth, Texas; San Antonio, Texas; and Celina.

Fort Worth leaped over Jacksonville last year as the 10th most populous U.S. city, putting four Texas cities in the nation's top 10 most populous, with the other cities being Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.

Austin skipped over San Jose for the 12th most populous spot, as Texas’ capital city surpassed 1 million residents for the first time. It is now one of a dozen U.S. cities with 1 million residents or more.

Seattle was the only non-Southern city to crack the top 10 in numeric population gains last year, at the No. 5 spot.

What's driving population losses
The two cities with the greatest rates of population loss last year — Twentynine Palms, California, by Joshua Tree National Park and Key West at the southern tip of Florida — were in places with tight housing markets. Their losses ranged from -2.4% to -2.9%.

In Twentynine Palms, a large chunk of the housing stock has been converted into short-term rentals for tourists heading to the national park. Just under 40% of its housing is occupied by its owners, compared with the national average of 65%, according to Census Bureau figures.

Hemmed in on all sides by water, the limited housing stock in Key West, as well as some of the highest home insurance rates in the U.S., have driven up housing costs for the Conch Republic. The median price for a home in Key West was $1.3 million at the start of this year, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Other cities that had some of the biggest rates of population loss last year were hit by natural disasters.

Hurricanes Helene and Milton struck Florida’s Gulf Coast within weeks of each other in late 2024. Remnants of Helene blew through western North Carolina, leaving behind damaging tornadoes and flooding. Among the cities with the greatest rates of loss were Asheville, North Carolina, and several cities on Florida’s Gulf Coast, including Pinellas Park, Dunedin, Largo and Clearwater.

celina growth population growth census suburbs celina

wfh life

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

Sprawling Celina

This booming Dallas suburb is the No. 1 fastest-growing city in U.S.

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