It’s not all sweatpants and Zoom — Bellingham ranked among best at working remotely
If anything, the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us we can work from home.
Working remotely is not all about wearing sweat pants, forgoing showers, adult beverages at 1 in the afternoon and watching each others dogs and cats on Zoom meetings, though — there’s actual work to be done.
Turns out, Bellingham is pretty good at that, too.
A recently released ranking by Livability.com, a website that examines living in small- and medium-sized cities, ranked Bellingham the third-best Remote-Ready City in the United States.
Only top-ranked Columbus, Ohio, and second-ranked Grand Rapids, Michigan, are better, according to Livability.
Not surprisingly, some of the things that make Bellingham pop up on other top 10 lists are part of the reason it appears third on this list.
“Bellingham’s natural beauty and year-round recreation activities will help you stay motivated and work efficiently at your remote job — as soon as you’re done for the day (or even during lunch!), you can head outside and get moving,” Livability wrote.
“From your home office or your back deck, you may have views of the water, the Cascade Mountains, the San Juan Islands and the vast wilderness of northern Washington.”
Bellingham’s “robust high-speed internet,” capable of allowing several people to work, remote learn, game, web surf or stream at the same time, makes it a prime place to get in some prime work from home, according to Livability. Probably best we don’t mention what happened Thursday, Jan. 28, when many Bellingham residents found themselves without internet service.
And when you’re done working, Livibility was impressed with our many options for entertainment outside the house — at least pre-COVID.
“Bellingham is also home to a thriving arts and entertainment scene, a growing selection of craft breweries, many museums and fun annual events that bring the community together,” Livibility wrote. “If you get bored with the four walls of your home office, you can hop on your bike or walk to many of Bellingham’s hip coffee shops — like Caffe Adagio or The Lettered Streets Coffeehouse — to get a little work done.”
Joining Bellingham in Livability’s top 10 were: No. 4 Oak Park, Illinois; No. 5 Fort Collins, Colorado; No. 6 Frederick, Maryland; No. 7 Sacramento, California; No. 8 Albuquerque, New Mexico; No. 9 Tucson, Arizona; and No. 10 Duluth, Minnesota.
