American cities and states that will pay you to move there

Americans of all age groups are going through one of the most difficult financial periods since the Global Financial Crisis. Housing costs in particular are slowly rising all around the country but some places are offering to ease the burden. 

There’s a growing trend of cities, counties, and states willing to pay people if they make the move to relocate to their area according to Wealth of Geeks, and the online financial news website put together a list of the top offers available. 

Noblesville is offering cold hard cash to new residents who make the move to the city as part of its partnership with Make My Move. New residents can get up to $15,000 dollars in cash and the city also offers tax credits and free land. 

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If you’re a remote worker that wants to move away from the big city then you should be looking to take advantage of the Move to Mattoon incentive package. You could get up to $5,000 in cash and other perks totaling to $11,703. 

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Newcomers to Hamilton can get up to $15,000 in student loan forgiveness from the city if they’ve graduated within the previous 7 years. Funded by the Hamilton Community Foundation, they call the program a “reverse scholarship.”

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Jumping on Baltimore’s Vacants to Value program can put an extra $10,000 into your pocket to help cover the costs of buying a home. Baltimore also offers its Buying into Baltimore program, a lottery that pays $5,000 to 20 lucky homebuyers each year. 

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Remote Shoals is a relocation program that’s open to new residents of the city and it offers up to $10,000 on a sliding scale to remote workers who want to relocate to the area, but you have to make $52,000 a year to apply. 

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Alaska offers some pretty amazing benefits to those who relocate anywhere within the state thanks to its Permanent Fund Dividend Program. What you get varies, but you will receive an annual payment of the state’s mineral revenues.

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Not unlike Alaska, West Virginia also offers some great incentives to move to the state. If you choose to relocate to the Appalachian wonder backwoods you can earn $10,000 in your first year and $2,000 in your second as part of the state's Ascend program. 

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Make the move to Newton and you’ll get up to $10,000 in downpayment assistance on a new house under the city’s Newton Housing Initiative, but the home you plan to buy will need to cost at least $240,000 if you want to apply for the cash incentive. 

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Choose Topeka is more than just a plea from the city, it's a program that can earn you a crisp $15,000 if you’re a worker willing to move for a full-time position. The cash is given out as cash back for relocation costs and help with rent or a downpayment. 

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Rochester will pay individuals who move to the city up to $10,000 under its Move to Rochester Program, plus those who make the move are also eligible for up to another $9,000 in homebuyers incentives. 

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You’ve likely never heard of Bemidji but this little town in Minnesota is willing to cover up to $1,000 of a person’s moving-related expenses and will give you a free membership to the city’s Chamber of Commerce for a year and a one-year coworking subscription.

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Tulsa Remote is like many of the other programs on this list. Tulsa offers up to $10,000 in grant money for making the move to the city. You can get $2500 upfront plus a $500 stipend monthly and another $1,500 once you live in Tulsa for a year, CBS News noted.

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Natchez’s Shift South program launched several years ago and it's been bringing new talent into the town and its county ever since. In 2021, the program offered $2500 and a stipend of $300 a month to any remote worker willing to make the move, CNN reported. 

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Chattanooga’s GeekMove program might be one of the best on this list because it will pay you $1,250 in relocation fees as well as $10,000 in a forgivable second mortgage to help pay down the cost of buying a house in the city. 

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