NOBLESVILLE, Ind. — During the pandemic, we saw an increasing number of remote workers pick up and move.
While you may pick a Caribbean island or some place in the mountains, more than 300 households are picking Indiana. The state is providing millions of dollars in incentives, so who is taking the bait?
At the Henry home in Noblesville, Zack and Tosha are still unpacking boxes from their move from Baltimore last week.
"I didn't know Indiana looked this nice," Zack said.
He served as a Marine and is now a remote government contractor. His wife, Tosha, is an educator with a Ph.D.
"We've been in cities and we've enjoyed that aspect, right? But now I just want to raise our sons and our daughter in a slower environment," she said.
"We are also interested in starting businesses of our own," Zack said. "And so as long as this is the right place for those businesses to grow and flourish, we'd love to, you know, be a part of their community and give back to the result."
Evan Hock co-founded Indianapolis-based Make My Move, an online marketplace created to attract remote workers like Zack Henry.
"These people are enormously valuable," he said.
To date, Hock's company has attracted 323 households with more than 700 people. The average income is $108,000 and 82% have a bachelor's degree or higher. Their average age is 38 years old.
"They pay taxes, they spend in the local economy. And what we found is that for every $100,000 in income, these folks bring about $83,000 of economic impact each year," Hock said.
So far, Muncie and Noblesville, along with Bloomington and other southwestern Indiana communities are attracting the most.
"It's new skills, it's new ideas, it's new neighbors. It's very ... it's a shot in the arm for a lot of these communities," Hock said.
Noblesville's incentives include $5,000, a co-working space membership and a parks pass. They also get a chamber of commerce membership and coffee with the mayor.
"Just the opportunity to be able to engage with like-minded people who want to expand and bring other like-minded people to this area. To me, that's priceless, right?" Tosha said. "So you can't put a price tag on that. So that also was just a driving factor."
Funding comes, in part, from the state.
"Every state is tackling the workforce and population growth item," said Tony Denhart, who heads talent development for the Indiana Economic Development Commission.
He said $2.2 million has been invested in the Make My Move program so far.
"It's expected by 2025 that there will be 32 million remote workers. With that said, I see continued investment in programs like this, you know, increasing the workforce in the state of Indiana," Denhart said.
The Make My Move model could be tailored to attract workers in areas where there are shortages.
"We're kind of in the early days thinking about how might we expand past remote work, you know, and you know, we found a lot of teachers and nurses and truck drivers actually want to participate in these programs. And we think that in the near future, that will be the case," Hock said.
The Henrys are now preparing for a new school year, aware Jack, Patrick and Annabelle are in place to be the face of Indiana's future workforce.
"We definitely are feeling welcomed in Indiana, yeah," Tosha said.