These towns and cities across the US want you to move there — so they're offering perks from $15,000 cash to a free home

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• Many American cities offer cash, homes, and other incentives to lure people to move there.
• The perks, often aimed at qualifying remote workers, range from gift cards to coworking memberships.
• Business Insider rounded up the states, cities, and towns that are paying people to move there.

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Remote work and the search for affordable housing have permanently reshaped where people live, and cities across the US are noticing.

A number of places are offering new residents big incentives, such as cash or free land.

Lillian Griffith, a 25-year-old data engineer, moved from Alpharetta, Georgia, to Tulsa, Oklahoma, in August 2022 to take advantage of the Tulsa Remote program, which granted her $10,000 simply for relocating to the city.

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"The Tulsa Remote program is not some elitist program that only accepts people who work in high-paying positions," Griffith told Business Insider. "It's more about pulling people who can bring a good culture to the city."

While some cities are doling out cash for remote workers, hoping their presence will boost the local economy, others are looking to attract new talent by paying off their debts. Hamilton, Ohio — a city of 63,000 about 20 miles north of Cincinnati — is courting recent college graduates with a program that offers up to $15,000 a year toward student-loan repayments.

Other cities are more interested in boosting their population. In Lincoln, Kansas, a small town about two hours north of Wichita, relocators can nab free residential plots of land just outside the city's downtown if they agree to certain design guidelines.

Business Insider rounded up the places across the US that are dishing out perks to anyone who moves there.

Did you get paid to move somewhere? We'd love to hear about it. Email the reporter, Jordan Pandy, at jpandy@businessinsider.com.

Columbus, Georgia, will pay remote workers $5,000 to move there.

Columbus, a 200,000-person city on the border between Georgia and Alabama, is giving $5,000 to remote workers who move there.

Together with MakeMyMove, a site that connects remote workers with places offering them incentives, Columbus is also offering relocators other perks, including six months of time at a coworking space, coffee with the mayor, and a two-night hotel stay to visit before your move.

The total package is worth $7,400, according to MakeMyMove.

In order to qualify for the program, you need to be employed full-time, earn at least $75,000, and live at least 75 miles outside Columbus at the time of the application.

A new lottery program in Baltimore wants to reduce the upfront costs required for prospective residents to buy a home.

Buying Into Baltimore is a program that awards $5,000 in down-payment and closing-cost assistance to a few lucky prospective homebuyers who enter a lottery after attending a special Trolley Tour that is held three times a year.

The prize is not limited to first-time homebuyers, but following the event, applicants have 10 business days to make an offer on a home, have the offer accepted, and obtain a contract of sale to be eligible to even enter the lottery. A special note for remote workers looking to make the move — the property must also be used as a primary residence.

A city on a lake in Minnesota wants to reimburse you for your relocation costs.

Bemidji, a 15,000-person city in northern Minnesota, has a program offering remote workers interested in moving to the area six months of free internet service, a one-year membership to a coworking space, a one-year membership to the Bemidji Area Chamber of Commerce, and free access to community programs and events.

To qualify, movers must work primarily from home and be relocating from at least 60 miles away.

Claremont, Minnesota, is also offering free residential plots to those with home-building means and plans.

The Claremont House Lot Program is giving away single-family lots for free, as part of a qualified-buyer program, to families of two with a gross income of $91,800 or families of three or more making a total of $114,655 or less. Those with a higher gross income would need to pay $9,500 for their lot.

Even if securing the lot seems like a breeze, there are a number of things to keep in mind while building a home in Claremont, a town of just about 500 people about 80 miles south of Minneapolis. Homes cannot have less than 930 livable square feet, and they must have minimal landscaping and a double-stall garage.

Hamilton, Ohio, assists recent graduates with their student-loan payments.

Hamilton, Ohio — a city of 63,000 about 20 miles north of Cincinnati — is encouraging recent college graduates to apply for its Talent Attraction Program Scholarship.

Scholarship recipients can get up to $15,000 a year toward student loan payments.

In order to qualify for the scholarship, you must have graduated from a STEAM (science, tech, engineering, the arts, or math) program within the last seven years. You must not already live in the city of Hamilton but have plans to move or live in what the city defines as one of its "urban" neighborhoods.

Applicants must demonstrate employment within Butler County or a full-time remote position. Preference is given to people "with a desire to give back to the community and become engaged in activities." Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.

Ketchikan, Alaska, pays you up to $2,000 a year to live there and gives you free internet.

Ketchikan, a scenic coastal city near the southernmost tip of Alaska that is a 90-minute flight from Seattle, launched the Choose Ketchikan program in November 2021.

Applicants over 18 must be "fully employed." The individual or family must live outside Alaska while working remotely for a company that is also outside Alaska.

All Alaska residents get an annual payment from Alaska's Permanent Fund Dividend, which can be as much as $3,000 a year or more. Ketchikan is also offering new residents three months of high-speed internet for free.

A quaint town in central Kansas is giving away free land to build your home on.

Lincoln, Kansas, a town of about 1,100, is offering free residential land plots just outside the city's downtown. The city grants the deed to people who agree to build a home on the lot — ranging from 14,000 to 35,000 square feet — as long as they meet certain design guidelines.

Before building the house, the applicant must provide a deposit of 8 cents per square foot — though the money is refunded upon the completion of the home. It's a modest request since one contractor said the cost to build a custom home in the state started at close to $100 per square foot.

According to Live Lincoln County, you do not have to be a resident of Lincoln, or even the state of Kansas, to participate in the program. And there are no regulations against building a home for the sole purpose of flipping it.

Lincoln has a deep culture of history with museums such as the Post Rock Scout Museum and the Lincoln Historical Museum.

Manilla, Iowa, is offering free plots of land to anyone who will build homes on them.

Manilla — a small city in western Iowa — is offering free lots of land to anyone looking to build a single-family home. Twenty-two homes have already been built, and there are six additional lots up for grabs.

Manilla is also eliminating taxes on the homes built for the first five years.

A small city in Pennsylvania wants to give you a free fixer-upper.

Monessen, Pennsylvania, a small city located just south of Pittsburgh, is offering up free homes.

Monessen, once a vibrant steel town, is home to scores of vacant homes — so many that abandoned houses make up 10% of homes in the area, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The properties, all in varying states of disrepair, have accrued thousands of dollars in back taxes. If you choose to scoop one up, the mayor will clear the home's back taxes as long as you get the previous owner to sign the home over to you.

You also must commit to spending more than three times the amount of back taxes to fix the property up.

A program in West Virginia is offering potential new residents $12,000 in cash.

West Virginia launched a program named Ascend WV to attract out-of-state remote workers to Morgantown. To be eligible, potential residents must be 18 years or older, able to verify remote employment, and willing to move to the city of 30,000 for two years.

Those accepted to the program are expected to relocate to Morgantown — a vibrant college town home to West Virginia University — within six months to receive $10,000 in cash paid out over the course of a year. Another $2,000 is to be paid at the end of the second year. Other perks of the program include a coworking-space membership and free outdoor-gear rentals.

In the fall of 2021, the program received so many applications — 7,500 — that the state partnered with Rocket Mortgage to offer the applicants who were not selected for the program $2,500 to put toward closing costs on a home in the area.

Ascend WV is now accepting applications for its next host city, Lewisburg, which is in the southern part of the state, near the Virginia border.

Natchez, Mississippi, is luring remote workers with cash upfront plus more money each month for a year.

Natchez, Mississippi is a historic city full of antebellum mansions on the banks of the Mississippi River, right on the border with Louisiana. Its history spans from the indigenous Native American tribe that gave Natchez its name to French colonists who built a bustling trade port.

Natchez has an incentive program, Shift South, that awards up to $6,000 to eligible workers to offset relocation expenses.

The program is specifically targeting "remote workers to relocate to Natchez to enjoy a lower cost of living." People who apply must show work with an employer outside Natchez.

Benefits include a $2,500 payment for relocators, followed by $300 a month for one year. The program does require recipients to purchase a home valued at $150,000 or more in order to be eligible.

"We are excited to be the first and only city in the Deep South to offer an incentive package like this to remote workers," the Natchez mayor, Dan Gibson, said. "In this new day, where so many people are able to work from home, we can think of no better place than Natchez."