Digital nomadism continues to grow, despite the “back to office” trend

The digital nomad lifestyle appears to have become mainstream, according to a new report from MBO Partners, with 17.3 million American workers currently describing their work situation this way. In total, about 11% of American workers identify as digital nomads, according to the Digital Nomads 2023 report.

Since the start of the pandemic, the number of digital nomads has tripled, increasing by 131% between 2019 and 2022, the researchers found. Annual growth has stabilized at 2% since 2022.

"What we're seeing here is that Gen Z has a much higher propensity to become digital nomads than any other group of people on the front line of the funnel of people entering the market. job," says Miles Everson. , CEO of MBO Partners. “Expect digital nomads to make up a larger percentage of the total workforce.”

This trend is good news for worker happiness. 80% of digital nomads say they are very satisfied with their work, compared to 59% of people who are not digital nomads.

Digital nomads also tend to be satisfied with their income levels: 82% say they are satisfied or very satisfied with their income. Among workers who are not digital nomads, 69% report the same levels of satisfaction. Their satisfaction may be influenced by their happiness at having jobs that allow them to travel and by their ability to reduce their cost of living through "geo-arbitrage" by staying in places where basic necessities are more affordable than in the United States.

However, it is difficult to accurately report their income, the researchers note, because some work part-time or only travel while working part of the year. One in five say their household income is less than $25,000 a year, while 72% say it's $75,000 or more.

Nearly 80% of U.S. employees authorized to work remotely come into the office at least two days a week, according to the report, and the number is down 2% since last year. However, the number of traditional workers who were digital nomads has tripled since 2019.

During this time, the number of independent digital nomads grew by 14%.

While many employers are calling their teams back to the office, the pandemic has introduced new attitudes to workplaces. The younger the worker, the more likely they are to want to work where they want. 58% of digital nomads are either Gen Z (21%) or Gen Y (37%). And 59% of digital nomads say they plan to continue their lifestyle.

"Gen Z is much more likely to say, 'I won't work for you if you want me in the office,'" Everson says. "People place a high value on mobility."

Men are also more likely to embrace this trend than women. 56% are male, 43% are female, and 1% are non-binary.

Everson sees the change as a reflection of a broader distrust of central authorities, an idea for many that extends to traditional workplaces and is growing across all age groups. “They are not tied to traditional structures, whether it is a job or a house,” he says. "Everything is much more flexible."