- [Narrator] This is Northwest Arkansas,

the birthplace of Walmart and the gateway to the Ozarks,

which you've probably heard of because of that Netflix show.

- You owe me to job?

- What?

- [Narrator] But for the most part,

this little corner of the country is off the radar

for today's legions of remote workers

who are itching to bounce

from their high-priced, high-density confines

in cities like San Francisco and New York.

But, here they all are.

- What?

- Are you serious?

(woman cheering)

- Duh, fantastic.

- [Narrator] Getting a Zoom call

saying that they've been selected.

- I feel like I won the lottery.

- [Narrator] To help put Northwest Arkansas on the map.

- How soon do you think you could relocate here?

- Wow, okay.

- [Narrator] Among the many incentivized relocation programs

attracting remote workers since the pandemic,

this one in Northwest Arkansas offers $10,000

to those who move to the area and stay for at least a year.

We're talking about cities like Bentonville,

Rogers, and Fayetteville.

- I did see that Fayetteville was also top places

for singles to meet people.

- [Narrator] They'll even throw in a mountain bike.

- Geez, $10,000 and a bike.

- [Narrator] After receiving more than 24,000 applications,

the program called their first 25 winners,

just a few weeks ago.

- I wasn't expecting you to tell me, so now I gotta--

- Oh goodness, I'm definitely gonna call my mom.

(Dazz laughs)

- [Narrator] It's probably not a huge shock

that hundreds of applicants came

from the pricey tech hub of the Bay Area

and that includes the Portillo family,

Josue, his wife Athena, who both work

for tech companies and their three kids.

- Thank God.

I would looking for a sign.

I was surprised and just full of joy.

Me and my wife have been talking

about trying to get a home, a new home for our family.

- Our living situation in San Jose is very, very compact.

It's a two bedroom,

so all of us are in that little condo.

- [Narrator] Before the pandemic,

Josue commuted four hours a day from San Jose

for his job in San Francisco,

leaving just a few precious hours left to spend

with his kids at night in their 800 square foot home,

but even though he was able to work from home

this past year, the Portillos still dreamt

of owning a big house, the kind they still

can't afford in the Bay Area.

But now, with their $10,000 grant

and the blessing of Josue's employer,

the Portillos, which includes Josue's parents,

say they'll be heading to the Ozark Mountains

in a few months, where an average home

costs less than $270,000, 70% cheaper than San Jose.

- When we went to go visit Arkansas,

it felt like a different country.

It just felt like a secret place that we found, like a gem.

- [Narrator] The Portillos are among the growing numbers

of remote tech workers fleeing the broader Bay Area

and especially San Francisco.

In fact, nearly 40% more people moved out

of San Francisco during the pandemic months

compared to the same period a year earlier,

the largest increase of any major city in the country,

according to data from moving company, Updater.

Most moved within California,

but these states were also top destinations.

While cities like Austin, Denver, and Seattle

are enticing Bay Area tech employees more than ever before.

This comes as some of the biggest tech companies

like Twitter, Facebook, and Salesforce,

San Francisco's largest private employer,

have all announced more permanent remote work options.

- I just never had given a thought to Arkansas.

- [Narrator] But if smaller, less known places

like Northwest Arkansas wanna compete

for these remote workers, they have to sweeten the deal,

with cash and tax incentives in the tens of thousands.

- This is gonna be amazing.

- [Narrator] Like Tulsa, Oklahoma did.

Though it's $10,000 grants launched in 2018,

the program saw a dramatic rise

in applicants since the pandemic.

It now has more than 500 participants

living and working in Tulsa.

A newer program called Choose Topeka pays up to $15,000

and has brought in 30 workers in just over a year.

- Right out of the gate, it exploded.

So, I mean, we had over 3,500 applications

within the first 30 days, globally.

- [Narrator] Bob Ross runs the Topeka program.

- It really exposed a tremendous pent up demand

for people looking for something new and a fresh start

and they saw Topeka as a possibility for that.

- [Narrator] Having won a $10,000 grant from Topeka,

Tyler Jaggers moved out of the Bay Area

and bought a $47,000 house in Topeka that he's fixing up.

- I was already thinking about moving, pre-COVID,

and then once COVID kicked in,

coupled with things such as, myself,

I was living next to a fire evacuation zone.

- [Narrator] As an indie video game developer,

who often dresses up for all the networking events in town,

Tyler hopes it will be easier to grow his company

with the lower cost of living.

- It's a nice little sleepy town.

It's not like bustling.

There's not a ton of traffic.

If you need to park, there's a spot.

You got a big truck, there's a spot.

Got a small car, enjoy it.

So, it was just great fun.

- [Narrator] Ross sees remote workers, like Tyler,

as an investment, one that will pay off.

- What we found is that $10,000

in remote incentives translates into $50,000

of economic impact in just one year.

And then, you add in just the soft benefits

of the intellectual and cultural impact

that there'll be making.

It's $10,000, very well-spent.

- [Narrator] But skeptics of these relocation programs

say the pandemic won't last forever and then what?

San Francisco supervisor, Matt Haney,

believes the Bay Area will always be the home

of innovators and entrepreneurs.

- The tech industry has had such a strong ecosystem here

that for people who wanna network,

who are starting businesses and wanna recruit folks,

engineers, a lot of that is concentrated here

in the Bay Area.

- [Narrator] And even if these relocated tech workers

don't return, that doesn't mean

a new wave of talent won't take their place.

- It may not be the same companies,

it may not be the same people before the pandemic.

Only the biggest, richest companies

could even secure office space here

and that may change, which I think could create

a renaissance for startups who wanna be in San Francisco.

- [Girl] Did you saw that?

Mommy, look at that big bubble.

- [Narrator] The Portillos say

they don't expect to return to the Bay Area.

- I think the only way we would come back

is the cost of living goes down,

but I don't know if that's gonna happen.

- [Narrator] But the family says a fresh start

couldn't have come at a better time.

Several weeks ago, the entire family contracted COVID.

Josue's father was on a ventilator

and they weren't sure he was going to make it.

- When he finally came home, it was a miracle.

The doctors say it was a miracle

and then, a few days later we got the grant.

It just felt like that saying,

"It's always darkest before the dawn."

(Josue's father singing in Spanish)

- Josue's father is expected to make a full recovery

and now, with some extra cash

and the promise of finding affordable property,

Josue can live close to his parents and look after them.

Some sort of acre lot, maybe even placing

her house and my house next to it, having a little ranch.

(laughs)

Yeah.

(gentle music)