The 2022 MBO Partners digital nomad report - The Aspirations and Realities for Digital Nomads - reports that 16.9 million Americans describe themselves as digital nomads.
This is an increase of 9% in 2022 and a 131% increase from 2019 (click on the study charts below to enlarge).
The shift to remote work is the primary driver of this growth. This has unleashed traditional jobholders from their offices, more than tripling their numbers since 2019 and reaching 11.1 million in 2022.
In addition to the pandemic-induced shift to remote work, several other factors are driving the growth of digital nomadism:
- Many organizations are allowing their employees to become digital nomads: Corporations have been hesitant to allow their employees to become nomadic. This is changing, and many companies have announced plans and policies that enable employees to become digital nomads. And, as this study's data shows, many are doing it.
- Countries and cities worldwide are vying for digital nomads: Towns and countries have discovered that digital nomads provide more economic benefits than traditional tourists. Because of this, many are creating incentive programs and special visas to attract digital nomads.
- A growing support industry is making it easier to be a digital nomad: The size of the digital nomad market has reached the size and scale that a wide variety of products and services are tailored to their needs. Digital nomads also benefit from products and services targeted at remote workers.
- Remote work technology and methods continue to improve: The shift to remote work has resulted in massive investments in remote work tools and technology. Firms are also learning to productively utilize remote workers and effectively include them in their teams. Digital nomads - intensive users of remote work technology - benefit greatly from these advances.
Despite the considerable increase in the number of digital nomads since 2019, growth slowed in 2022 to 9%.
This was not surprising.
With the pandemic easing, life and work started to return to normal, and more workers were expected to show up at the office - at least a few days a week.
Also, the number of American digital nomads has reached a size where the growth rates of 2020 and 2021 were no longer sustainable.
But the outlook for continued growth is excellent.
People want to travel, awareness and interest in digital nomadism are growing, and the shift to remote work will continue to be a powerful enabler.
See the report for more information, including digital nomad attitudes and motivations, challenges and demographics.
Emergent Research (that's us) worked with MBO Partners on this study.
