Best all-round cities for remote workers in the West Coast
Question 1
Where are you right now?
Why we ask: a laid-off week and a thinking-about-a-move week look nothing alike. No résumé, no account.
Key facts
- #1 San Francisco, CA: 93 / 100
- #2 Santa Clara, CA: 85 / 100
- #3 Seattle, WA: 76 / 100
- 36 cities ranked in the West Coast
- Data as of November 2026
- 1San Francisco CA93 / 100
- 2Santa Clara CA85 / 100
- 3Seattle WA76 / 100
- 4Santa Ana CA72 / 100
- 5Mountain View CA71 / 100
- 6Palo Alto CA69 / 100
- 7Oakland CA69 / 100
- 8Redwood City CA66 / 100
- 9Sacramento CA66 / 100
- 10Los Angeles CA63 / 100
What stands out
- The top ten is tightly packed: San Francisco leads on 93 / 100, and #10 Los Angeles is at 63 / 100.
- Santa Ana reaches #4 on a sample of 258 openings, a smaller market than most of the top ten, so its rank can move more from month to month.
- San Francisco is the largest market in the top ten, with 11,798 openings behind its figure.
- Cities with fewer than 100 openings are not ranked, and small differences between neighbouring ranks are not meaningful.
Why this ranking matters
What it shows
Remote work is attached to a city by the employer's base. This list weighs how many openings are remote, how many there are and what the pay is worth locally, to show which cities hire remotely in volume.
How to use it
If you want a remote role, the top cities show where the employers are. You can live elsewhere and still apply to them as a remote candidate.
The top 25
- 1
San Francisco CA
93 / 100
- Remote share of openings
- 8%
- Pay after cost of living
- $186k
- Remote openings
- 988
Hiring most here: OpenAI, Anthropic, University Of California San Francisco Foundation
Based on 11,798 openings.
- 2
Santa Clara CA
85 / 100
- Remote share of openings
- 5%
- Pay after cost of living
- $188k
- Remote openings
- 84
Hiring most here: Pure Storage, Advanced Micro Devices, Amazon
Based on 1,530 openings.
- 3
Seattle WA
76 / 100
- Remote share of openings
- 5%
- Pay after cost of living
- $162k
- Remote openings
- 247
Hiring most here: Amazon, Blue Origin, Shield AI
Based on 5,343 openings.
- 4
Santa Ana CA
72 / 100
- Remote share of openings
- 10%
- Pay after cost of living
- $155k
- Remote openings
- 27
Hiring most here: Anduril Industries, First American Financial, Anduril
Based on 258 openings.
- 5
Mountain View CA
71 / 100
- Remote share of openings
- 3%
- Pay after cost of living
- $193k
- Remote openings
- 50
Hiring most here: Intuit, Waymo, Google
Based on 1,515 openings.
- 6
Palo Alto CA
69 / 100
- Remote share of openings
- 3%
- Pay after cost of living
- $184k
- Remote openings
- 43
Hiring most here: SpaceX, Rivian Automotive, Stanford Health Care
Based on 1,237 openings.
- 7
Oakland CA
69 / 100
- Remote share of openings
- 6%
- Pay after cost of living
- $162k
- Remote openings
- 34
Hiring most here: Pacific Gas & Electric, Blue Shield of California, Fivetran
Based on 581 openings.
- 8
Redwood City CA
66 / 100
- Remote share of openings
- 5%
- Pay after cost of living
- $162k
- Remote openings
- 24
Hiring most here: Corcept Therapeutics, SB Energy, C3 AI
Based on 471 openings.
- 9
Sacramento CA
66 / 100
- Remote share of openings
- 7%
- Pay after cost of living
- $127k
- Remote openings
- 100
Hiring most here: Sutter Health, California Correctional Health Care Services, Nalu Medical
Based on 1,364 openings.
- 10
Los Angeles CA
63 / 100
- Remote share of openings
- 5%
- Pay after cost of living
- $134k
- Remote openings
- 240
Hiring most here: K2 Space, Cedars-sinai Medical Center, Apex Space
Based on 5,126 openings.
- 11
Sunnyvale CA
62 / 100
- Remote share of openings
- 3%
- Pay after cost of living
- $190k
- Remote openings
- 39
Hiring most here: Applied Intuition, Wayve, Amazon
Based on 1,556 openings.
- 12
San Jose CA
61 / 100
- Remote share of openings
- 2%
- Pay after cost of living
- $180k
- Remote openings
- 59
Hiring most here: Super Micro Computer, Advanced Micro Devices, Cisco Systems
Based on 2,379 openings.
- 13
San Diego CA
61 / 100
- Remote share of openings
- 5%
- Pay after cost of living
- $134k
- Remote openings
- 144
Hiring most here: Qualcomm Inc/De, Qualcomm Technologies, General Atomics
Based on 3,085 openings.
- 14
Bellevue WA
60 / 100
- Remote share of openings
- 3%
- Pay after cost of living
- $184k
- Remote openings
- 39
Hiring most here: Amazon, TerraPower, Okta
Based on 1,396 openings.
- 15
Portland OR
60 / 100
- Remote share of openings
- 7%
- Pay after cost of living
- $119k
- Remote openings
- 53
Hiring most here: Oregon Health & Science University, Legacy Health, Keen Footwear
Based on 792 openings.
- 16
Menlo Park CA
59 / 100
- Remote share of openings
- 4%
- Pay after cost of living
- $169k
- Remote openings
- 16
Hiring most here: Snowflake, Robinhood Ventures Fund I, Hippocratic AI
Based on 437 openings.
- 18
Santa Monica CA
53 / 100
- Remote share of openings
- 4%
- Pay after cost of living
- $151k
- Remote openings
- 13
Hiring most here: Amazon, Snap, FIGS
Based on 307 openings.
- 19
San Carlos CA
53 / 100
- Remote share of openings
- 3%
- Pay after cost of living
- $176k
- Remote openings
- 7
Hiring most here: 1X Technologies, Joby Aviation, Natera
Based on 210 openings.
- 20
Corona CA
52 / 100
- Remote share of openings
- 9%
- Pay after cost of living
- $102k
- Remote openings
- 13
Hiring most here: Monster Energy Company, Lubrizol, Gallagher
Based on 143 openings.
- 21
Everett WA
47 / 100
- Remote share of openings
- 3%
- Pay after cost of living
- $169k
- Remote openings
- 6
Hiring most here: Helion Energy, Fortive, TerraPower
Based on 186 openings.
- 22
Irvine CA
47 / 100
- Remote share of openings
- 3%
- Pay after cost of living
- $140k
- Remote openings
- 46
Hiring most here: Anduril Industries, Field AI, Rivian Automotive
Based on 1,503 openings.
- 23
Alameda CA
43 / 100
- Remote share of openings
- 3%
- Pay after cost of living
- $171k
- Remote openings
- 5
Hiring most here: Saildrone, Penumbra, Kairos Power
Based on 189 openings.
- 24
Pleasanton CA
41 / 100
- Remote share of openings
- 3%
- Pay after cost of living
- $148k
- Remote openings
- 6
Hiring most here: Kaiser Permanente, 10X Genomics, IonQ
Based on 174 openings.
- 25
Renton WA
40 / 100
- Remote share of openings
- 4%
- Pay after cost of living
- $144k
- Remote openings
- 5
Hiring most here: Hasbro, Providence Health & Services Washington, Michels
Based on 130 openings.
Full ranking
All 36 cities that qualified, with the figure each is ranked on.
| Rank | City | Score | Sample |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Francisco CA | 93 / 100 | 11,798 |
| 2 | Santa Clara CA | 85 / 100 | 1,530 |
| 3 | Seattle WA | 76 / 100 | 5,343 |
| 4 | Santa Ana CA | 72 / 100 | 258 |
| 5 | Mountain View CA | 71 / 100 | 1,515 |
| 6 | Palo Alto CA | 69 / 100 | 1,237 |
| 7 | Oakland CA | 69 / 100 | 581 |
| 8 | Redwood City CA | 66 / 100 | 471 |
| 9 | Sacramento CA | 66 / 100 | 1,364 |
| 10 | Los Angeles CA | 63 / 100 | 5,126 |
| 11 | Sunnyvale CA | 62 / 100 | 1,556 |
| 12 | San Jose CA | 61 / 100 | 2,379 |
| 13 | San Diego CA | 61 / 100 | 3,085 |
| 14 | Bellevue WA | 60 / 100 | 1,396 |
| 15 | Portland OR | 60 / 100 | 792 |
| 16 | Menlo Park CA | 59 / 100 | 437 |
| 17 | San Mateo CA | 57 / 100 | 894 |
| 18 | Santa Monica CA | 53 / 100 | 307 |
| 19 | San Carlos CA | 53 / 100 | 210 |
| 20 | Corona CA | 52 / 100 | 143 |
| 21 | Everett WA | 47 / 100 | 186 |
| 22 | Irvine CA | 47 / 100 | 1,503 |
| 23 | Alameda CA | 43 / 100 | 189 |
| 24 | Pleasanton CA | 41 / 100 | 174 |
| 25 | Renton WA | 40 / 100 | 130 |
| 26 | Fremont CA | 39 / 100 | 470 |
| 27 | Foster City CA | 33 / 100 | 520 |
| 28 | Long Beach CA | 30 / 100 | 840 |
| 29 | Torrance CA | 30 / 100 | 735 |
| 30 | Redmond WA | 29 / 100 | 1,147 |
| 31 | Kirkland WA | 27 / 100 | 158 |
| 32 | Berkeley CA | 23 / 100 | 238 |
| 33 | El Segundo CA | 22 / 100 | 949 |
| 34 | Milpitas CA | 19 / 100 | 257 |
| 35 | Newark CA | 16 / 100 | 130 |
| 36 | Newport Beach CA | 10 / 100 | 286 |
How this ranking works
A city's score is the weighted average of its percentile rank on each measure among the ranked cities (100 is first, 0 is last): remote share of openings 40%, pay after cost of living 30%, remote openings 30%.
A score of 100 would mean first on every measure and 50 is the middle of the pack. The measures and weights are fixed in advance and shown here; they are a judgment about what matters to this reader, so use the single-measure rankings when one thing matters most.
Only cities with enough openings and pay data are ranked.
A city where one employer posts more than 50% of its openings is not ranked, so a single company cannot decide a city's score.
Sample bar: cities with fewer than 100 openings are not ranked.
Sources: NextChapter job data: open professional roles and posted pay; Bureau of Economic Analysis regional price parities 2024. Data as of November 2026.
Our job data covers professional roles on the career sites of employers we track, so figures describe that market, not every job. Spot an error? Tell us.
Questions
- Which city ranks first: best all-round cities for remote workers in the west coast?
- San Francisco is the best all-round city for remote workers in the West Coast, with a score of 93 / 100.
- How many cities are ranked?
- 36 cities have at least 100 openings, so the list has 36 entries.
- How is the ranking calculated?
- A city's score is the weighted average of its percentile rank on each measure among the ranked cities (100 is first, 0 is last): remote share of openings 40%, pay after cost of living 30%, remote openings 30%. A score of 100 would mean first on every measure and 50 is the middle of the pack. The measures and weights are fixed in advance and shown here; they are a judgment about what matters to this reader, so use the single-measure rankings when one thing matters most. Only cities with enough openings and pay data are ranked. A city where one employer posts more than 50% of its openings is not ranked, so a single company cannot decide a city's score.
- How often is it updated?
- Every month. This is the November 2026 edition. Older editions stay on this site at their own dated addresses.
More rankings
- Colleges with the highest earnings 10 years after enrolling in the West Coast
- Best college towns for junior jobs in the West Coast
- Counties with the lowest unemployment in the West Coast
- Counties where unemployment fell the most in the West Coast
- Counties with the highest share of white-collar workers in the West Coast
- Counties with the most jobs in AI-exposed sectors in the West Coast
- Best all-round cities for remote workers
- All rankings
Cite this ranking
NextChapter, “Best all-round cities for remote workers in the West Coast,” November 2026 edition. https://launchyournextchapter.com/rankings/best-all-round-cities-for-remote-workers-in-the-west-coast
Link to it: <a href="https://launchyournextchapter.com/rankings/best-all-round-cities-for-remote-workers-in-the-west-coast">Best all-round cities for remote workers in the West Coast (NextChapter, November 2026)</a>
Download the data: CSV · JSON. Free to use with a link back.
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