States Lure ‘Digital Nomads’ With Cash and Tax Incentives

Jill Urbanski was exactly the type of mobile worker sought by economic development officials in southwest Michigan.

After a successful career as a product manager with the health insurer Anthem Inc., she was fed up working remotely from a tiny and expensive downtown apartment. Without blinking, the lifelong Chicagoan jumped this year at a $10,000 Move to Michigan grant, designed to relocate dozens of “digital nomads” to the shores of Lake Michigan.

Urbanski may be at the vanguard of a relocation trend fueled by thousands of employers expanding work-from-home options during the Covid-19 pandemic. Dozens of cities and at least ...