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Austin is caught slacking in Forbes study on best cities for remote workers

Daily commute: about 30 seconds from the bedroom to the office.

thumbor.forbes.com

With many companies encouraging — or commanding — that remote workers return to the office in 2023, more and more Americans are seeking employment opportunities that will give them the freedom to work from elsewhere.

Austin is (remotely) clocking in as the No. 39 best city for remote workers in 2023, according to a study by Forbes Advisor. The city's disappointing rank has much room for improvement in this burgeoning Central Texas mega-metro.

The study examined 100 U.S. cities and metro areas, and ranked them based on the earning potential of remote workers, internet access, lifestyle amenities, worker friendliness, living costs, and more.

Austin did great in one of these categories, but it seems that earning potential and lifestyle amenities just couldn't keep up. for Austinites, it's all in the Wi-Fi: a remote worker's most important tool.

Austin's average internet download speed is 425.90 Megabits per second (Mbps), and when coupled with the wide variety of free Wi-Fi hotspots around the city, Austin earned No. 3 in the category for "cities with the best internet access." And we do like to take advantage of that at restaurants and bars around town.

"Remote work saves workers time and money on commuting and office clothing, while keeping their morale and productivity levels high," the report said. "Ideally, you’d live in a place with an affordable cost of living, high earning potential, reliable internet connection, low taxes, a low unemployment rate, and various entertainment options."

Austin-Round Rock ranks as the third overall best metro area in Texas for remote workers, after Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington (No. 15 nationally) and San Antonio-New Braunfels (No. 6 nationally). Elsewhere in Texas, Houston (No. 49) barely made it into the top 50, outranked by El Paso (No. 46). McAllen-Edinburg-Mission ranked No. 85.

The top 10 U.S. metro areas for remote workers are:

No. 1 – Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, Florida
No. 2 – Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, Indiana
No. 3 – Omaha-Council Bluffs, Nebraska-Iowa
No. 4 – Tulsa, Oklahoma
No. 5 – Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, Michigan
No. 6 – San Antonio-New Braunfels, Texas
No. 7 – Jacksonville, Florida
No. 8 – Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida
No. 9 – Tuscon, Arizona
No. 10 – Cleveland-Elyria, Ohio

The study can be found on forbes.com.

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Shelter to Service

Dripping Springs nonprofit trains service dogs rescued from shelters

Photo courtesy of KVUE

The group estimates that it's gotten more than 1,000 dogs out of the shelter system.

For the past 35 years, a service dog training nonprofit in Dripping Springs has transformed unwanted dogs into essential partners for Texans living with significant challenges.

Sheri Soltes, founder and CEO of Service Dogs, Inc., says the dogs they train help serve people with hearing or mobility disabilities. The canines also comfort those enduring traumatic events.

In a time where most animal shelters in Central Texas are over capacity, Service Dogs, Inc. is handing out second chances to pups with potential to make a difference in people’s lives.

“They're sort of like the cousins to guide dogs,” Soltes said. “Except we're unique because we get our dogs from animal shelters instead of having a breeding program. So we help the dog and we help the person.”

She says the nonprofit can’t adopt every dog because the pups must meet specific qualifications, narrowing down from their age to their temperament.

Soltes says dogs must be at least a year and a half old in order to be X-rayed to assess their health, must be extremely people-oriented and should be comfortable being in public settings.

She says Service Dogs, Inc. may bring back one out of 500 dogs in a shelter.

“We've probably trained well over a 1,000, probably closer to 1,200 dogs by this time over 36 years. Any dog that we adopt from a shelter, if it doesn't complete the training, we don't take it back to the shelter, will find it a good pet home. So, they're going to win either way with us,” Soltes said.

Depending on the pooches’ temperament and personality, they’ll be trained in any and all of four programs available.

Soltes says the nonprofit trains the canines to be hearing dogs that can alert people who are deaf or hard of hearing. They could be trained for people with mobility disabilities, learning to open and close doors or steady someone’s balance.

She says they also train dogs to work in areas devastated by catastrophic storms, in courthouses in the victim's assistance departments or with first responders struggling with their mental health.

“They're not always the right tool for every kind of job, but they're very, very helpful,” she said.

Read the full story and watch the video at KVUE.com.

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Shelter to Service

Dripping Springs nonprofit trains service dogs rescued from shelters