Reimagining Tulsa: Attracting Remote Workers to Combat Brain Drain

Reimagining Tulsa: A New Approach to Retaining Talent

For years, business leaders and local officials in Tulsa, Oklahoma, grappled with a pressing issue: how to address the exodus of young professionals to larger coastal cities. The question lingered: what strategies could effectively anchor these talented individuals in the heart of America? Instead of merely trying to retain native Tulsans, they decided to turn that concept on its head: why not actively recruit outsiders?

In recent years, the surge in remote work opportunities has provided a novel solution to the city’s ongoing brain drain. Five years after the George Kaiser Family Foundation launched its initiative, Tulsa Remote, which offers $10,000 to remote workers willing to relocate to Tulsa for at least a year, approximately 3,300 individuals have embraced this opportunity.

One such participant, Steven Briggs, a 55-year-old data scientist who previously worked remotely from Dallas, applied for the program and made the move to Tulsa in 2021. Reflecting on his experience, he humorously notes that his new hometown embodies an alternative to the famous saying about New York City: “If you can’t make it anywhere, you can make it here.”

The pandemic’s abrupt shift to remote work prompted numerous cities and states—including Topeka, Kansas; Savannah, Georgia; West Virginia; and northwest Arkansas—to compete for new residents, offering enticing cash incentives. However, Tulsa’s program stands out as one of the most ambitious. Researchers from Harvard and other academic institutions have scrutinized the impact of Tulsa Remote, seeking to determine whether the initiative has been advantageous for both the remote workers and the city.

Released this month, their research involved a comprehensive survey of 1,248 individuals. This group included 411 participants who successfully joined Tulsa Remote, as well as others who were accepted but chose not to relocate or those who applied but were not accepted. The findings revealed that remote workers who made the move to Tulsa experienced an average savings of $25,000 annually on housing costs compared to those who were selected but opted not to relocate. Furthermore, the relocations have significantly benefited the State of Oklahoma and the City of Tulsa, with an estimated influx of $14.9 million in annual income tax revenue and $5.8 million in sales tax generated by these remote workers.

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