Idaho ranked one of the best states to work remotely. Why is it appealing for hybrid jobs?
The work management website Asana has ranked Idaho one of the best states for hybrid-remote workers.
Work management experts at the company considered 16 characteristics across six categories in every state based on information they gathered from sources measuring rent, the economy, internet speeds, commute and average salary. They were able to create an index to find the best states for remote workers.
Idaho was ranked the 10th-best state for hybrid-remote workers, scoring 60.04 out of 100 on the index.
Why is Idaho good for remote working?
In their analysis, Asana’s ranking was based on six categories, including internet access and affordability, hybrid-remote work opportunities, cost-of-living, housing expenditure, access to amenities and commuting.
Asana ranked Idaho as fourth-best overall in the cost-of-living category, with the average residential electricity price in the state at $0.12 per kilowatt-hour, according to EnergyBot.com. However, other experts rank Idaho’s current cost of living worse than that due to overall rising costs, according to the Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy.
In a press release, Asana noted that economic and technological data was analyzed to offer a view of where in the country hybrid-rote work was most viable, so employers and employees can decide the best way to operate based on their preferred work style.
Asana analyzed economic and technological data factors to understand where in the country hybrid-remote work is viable.
In the category of home expenditures, Asana used data collected from Apartments.com, Visual Capitalist and the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
Based on their information, it was found the average rent in Idaho is $1,335, according to data from Apartments.com. Data collected from Visual Capitalist found the median home size in Idaho is 2,311 square feet. The hourly wage needed to afford a two-bedroom home is $23.06, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
To determine internet access and availability, data was used from EnergyBot.com, Speedtest.net and the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.
The median download speed in Idaho was determined to be 83.22 megabits per second, however the median upload speed 8.22 mbps, according to data collected from Speedtest.net. The percentage of the Idaho population with access to 100 mbps download and 20 mbps upload speed is about 84%, according to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.
Elizabeth Hume, 2025 president of Boise Regional Realtors, explained what renters are looking for when they move to Idaho and plan to work from home. In many cases, people want a dedicated work space at their home.
“So you actually have to have a dedicated office, and then maybe that guest room is also one of them,” Hume said in an interview with the Statesman. “In a new construction I’ve seen a workstation that is kind of built in a nook and made into a very small office, but something that would work if you really just needed a place to put your laptop.”
Hume said clients are creative as well when comes to making an office space in their home. She explained renters have found ways to make their office space under the stairs, and gone through social media app Pinterest for work area ideas that she said became “one of the most organized rooms I’ve ever seen.”
“(The clients) are wanting to make a house or a neighborhood work,” Hume said. “So if they’re like, ‘I want to live in this area of town or in this particular neighborhood,’ they’re picking the life and the home based on what their lifestyle is or what their needs are.”
How did other states rank?
The percentage of Americans who work remotely some or all of the time, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, is about 35%. Here are the other states in the top ten for remote workers according to the Asana analysis:
1. Utah
2. Arizona
3. Minnesota
4. South Dakota
5. North Dakota
6. Colorado
7. Nebraska
8. Kansas
9. Texas
10. Idaho
