Workin’ it

Dallas suburb plugs into No. 1 spot in ranking of best cities for remote workers

Gotta love that WFH life.

Photo by Maskot/Getty

If you’re a remote worker living in Frisco, you might just want to stay put. A new ranking puts Frisco atop the list of the best cities in the U.S. for remote workers.

But it isn’t the only North Texas city to make the cut. Three other local places show up in the ranking: Dallas (No. 3), Arlington (No. 4), and Plano (No. 8).

DFW’s showing on the list stands in contrast to a recent report ranking Dallas as the U.S. city with the unhappiest workers and Texas as the state with the unhappiest workers. (Maybe more employers should allow people to work from home?)

For its remote-work ranking, Austin-based outdoor services provider LawnStarter examined data for 194 of the biggest U.S. cities covering 20 factors, including remote job opportunities, internet connectivity, cost of living, and availability of personal workspace.

Frisco scores particularly well in the workspace (No. 1), opportunity (No. 7), and safety (No. 7) categories.

Earlier this year, Frisco grabbed the No. 3 spot on SmartAsset’s list of the best cities to work from home, with Austin at No. 9.

Jeff Herman, editor in chief at LawnStarter, tells CultureMap that Plano benefits from a first-place tie for the best broadband coverage, while Plano clinches the No. 1 ranking for the lowest crime rate.

Overall, the state’s lack of an income tax and solid quality of life boosted all of the Texas cities in the top 20, he says.

Herman, who lives in Dallas, says that “some of the best cities for working remotely are just a short drive away from me. I just hope the power stays on if there is a deep freeze this winter. You need lights, heat, and internet to work remotely, and that wasn’t the case for days across much of Texas last winter.”

Here are LawnStarter’s 20 best cities for remote workers:

Frisco
Naperville, Illinois
Dallas
Arlington
Atlanta
Austin
Tampa, Florida
Plano
Raleigh, North Carolina
Cincinnati
Houston
Nashville
Cary, North Carolina
Chicago
Denver
Salt Lake City
Charlotte, North Carolina
San Antonio
Arlington, Virginia
Seattle

Outside Dallas-Fort Worth, LawnStarter’s top-ranked Texas city for remote workers is Austin. It lands at No. 12 in the connectivity category and No. 14 in the convenience category.

Last year, Austin earned the top spot on a list of the world’s best cities for freelancers, many of whom work remotely. In June, Apartment List ranked Austin the sixth best U.S city for remote workers; no other Texas city appeared in the top 10.

rankings technology lists

cyber commute

Frisco tops 2026 list of U.S. cities with the most remote workers

Photo by Unsplash

Remote work really is all that and a bag of chips.

North Dallas neighbor Frisco has landed atop a 2026 list of U.S. cities with the most remote workers for the second consecutive year, and an up-and-coming McKinney has surged into the top 10.

The personal finance experts at SmartAsset compared the 357 largest U.S. cities based on the percentage of people who work from home, and additionally calculated the mean commute times for non-remote workers in each city. Remote work prevalence was analyzed using U.S. Census data from 2023-2024.

The findings revealed a third of all employees based in Frisco work remotely, with more than 42,000 remote workers as of 2024. However, the city's remote work prevalence is slightly lower than it was the year before.

"Frisco remains the top city for remote work with 33.7 percent of workers aged 16 and up working from home, despite a slight decline from 34.2 percent a year earlier," the report said.

Frisco residents that don't have the privilege of working remotely spend about 27.3 minutes on average commuting to their workplaces, SmartAsset added. Over 63 percent of Frisco workers drive to their jobs, and less than one percent walk to work.

In McKinney, the prevalence of remote workers in the city surged from 24.2 percent in 2023 to 26.7 percent in 2024. The report additionally found there were 32,798 residents working remotely in McKinney in 2024.

McKinney workers also spend more time commuting than Frisco residents do. The average commute time for in-person work in the city added up to 31.8 minutes. Nearly 70 percent of workers drive to their jobs, and .69 percent report that they walk to work.

Nationally, remote work has declined as more employers push return-to-office mandates, according to SmartAsset. But new reports have indicated these mandates are backfiring as more people seek employment at companies that embrace and prioritize flexible working environments.

"Remote work can open up a lot of opportunities for employees, families, and employers alike," the report's author wrote. "However, shifts into remote work may also cause short-term challenges to some communities – such as loss or redistribution of businesses and services used by commuters."

For remote workers in Dallas-Fort Worth, there's a greater financial incentive to work remote than to commute. An April 2025 U.S. Census Bureau study determined remote workers in the Metroplex earn nearly 51 percent more than their commuting counterparts. Dallas-area remote workers made a median income of $77,000 in 2023, compared to $51,100 for other workers.

"Tradeoffs abound, tracking the evolution of work culture and where the spoils of productivity end up can provide guidance to businesses, politicians, job-seekers, and employers alike," the report said.

The top 10 U.S. cities with the most prevalent remote workforces are:

No. 1 – Frisco, Texas
No. 2 – Berkeley, California
No. 3 – Cary, North Carolina
No. 4 – Boulder, Colorado
No. 5 – Scottsdale, Arizona
No. 6 – Arlington, Virginia
No. 7 – McKinney, Texas
No. 8 – Fishers, Indiana
No. 9 – Boca Raton, Florida
No. 10 – Carlsbad, California

frisco mckinney suburbs remote work innovation smartasset