The rise of remote work is one of the most substantial shocks to the local labor market in recent memory. With the capacity to work from home, employees can live farther from their workplaces and have more flexibility to pursue less expensive housing. Past research has also found that the ability to work from home has been concentrated among workers with higher levels of educational attainment.
This chart of the week examines how work-from-home differs by educational attainment and birthplace among employed, wage-earning District residents. It is important to note that the data does not allow one to distinguish between fully remote workers and those who work from home only some of the week.
Three patterns stand out.
First, consistent with previous research, remote work remains concentrated among D.C. residents with higher levels of educational attainment. Across both native (born in the District) and non-native D.C. residents (born outside the District), those with a bachelor’s degree or higher work from home in higher proportions.
Second, a larger percentage of non-native D.C. residents who work from home have a bachelor’s degree or higher than native D.C. residents. This difference likely reflects the fact that people who move to the D.C. area often have high levels of educational attainment.
Third, compared to non-native D.C. residents, between 2021 and 2023, native D.C. residents with a high school diploma or less made up a growing share of remote workers. At a first glance, this fact seems to run counter to the broader relationship between educational attainment and remote work. However, additional analysis suggests that the fact may be explained by a higher percentage of native D.C. residents working from home in office and administrative support jobs.
Data notes:
ACS data was accessed via IPUMS USA, University of Minnesota, www.ipums.org