Only Connect: Why Bucharest is World’s Best for Remote Work

The Romanian capital, Bucharest, tops the list, followed by Houston, Las Vegas and Atlanta, all in the US. The Hungarian capital, Budapest, came in fourth, ahead of San Francisco.

Bucharest outclassed all its competitors thanks to its cheap, reliable and fast internet connections and other factors the researchers took into account, such as the cost of living and of a laptop, the number of jobs that allow remote working and the availability of food delivery companies.

"4.33 per cent of the jobs in the city gave workers the opportunity for remote working, this was highest of all cities in the index," the summary of the study says. 

Bucharest "also scored highly for internet speed, coming 4th in the ranking with internet speeds of 52 Mbps, and 7th for the cost of living at  £421 (or 483 euros) per month," it adds. The data sources can be seen at the bottom of the report.

The managing director of BroadbandDeals.co.uk, Ben Tibbits, tells BIRN by email that "Bucharest has the perfect mix of the cost of living, fast internet speeds and availability of flexible jobs" for those working remotely.

Besides the factors evaluated in the index, Tibbits notes, "Bucharest has experienced a tech boom over recent years, with demand for many roles in tech and IT.

"According to a 2018 report by undelucram.ro seven out of the top 10 employers in the country were from the IT & C industry. This included companies such as Microsoft, Oracle, IBM and Zitec," Tibbits says. 

"Tech jobs typically make it easier for employees to work remotely, as often only a laptop and an internet connection are required for work," he explains. "This may help to explain why Bucharest has such a high percentage of remote working jobs available in the city, and why it's...