The survey was conducted October 1-15 among 20,490 Americans 18 and over and showed that a large migration motivated by people is no longer confined to the city where their job is located is set to happen. The pandemic has shifted many companies' view on working from home.

Another study conducted by United Van Lines, a major household moving company, found that people wanted to relocate out of New York state at a higher rate than the national average. And, by the beginning of September, the requests to leave San Francisco had grown to more than double the US average. The survey was conducted between March and August. Nationally, there is a 32 percent increase in moving interest compared with this time last year, the United Van Lines survey found.

San Francisco actually has the lowest positivity rate from coronavirus testing of any major metropolitan area in America — suggesting the migrations aren't motivated by a flight from the pandemic itself.

Upwork's chief economist calls their data "an early indicator of the much larger impacts that remote work could have in increasing economic efficiency and spreading opportunity".