85% of Workers Now Choose Remote Over Higher Pay

In partnership with

Hello, Human Guide

Today, we will talk about these stories:

• Remote work just beat salary as the top job priority

• The companies paying $100K+ for fully remote roles

• Why 69% of workers would take a pay cut to stay home

Go from AI overwhelmed to AI savvy professional

AI keeps coming up at work, but you still don't get it?

That's exactly why 1M+ professionals working at Google, Meta, and OpenAI read Superhuman AI daily.

Here's what you get:

• Daily AI news that matters for your career - Filtered from 1000s of sources so you know what affects your industry.

• Step-by-step tutorials you can use immediately - Real prompts and workflows that solve actual business problems.

• New AI tools tested and reviewed - We try everything to deliver tools that drive real results.

• All in just 3 minutes a day

Join 1M+ pros

Remote Work Just Won

The debate is over. Workers have made their choice.

FlexJobs just released its 2026 Remote Work Trends Report, and the headline number stops you cold. 85% of workers now say remote work matters more than salary when evaluating a job. Not benefits. Not title. Not even compensation. Flexibility has taken the top spot.

The findings go deeper. 76% of workers said they would start looking for a new job if their employer eliminated remote work. That is not a soft preference. That is a line in the sand. And 69% reported they would accept a pay cut just to keep working from home, an 11-point jump from last year.

When asked about their ideal setup, 58% chose fully remote. Another 40% wanted hybrid. Only 2% preferred being in an office full-time.

The pattern has held steady since 2020. This is not a phase. This is how people want to work now.

Who Is Still Hiring Remote?

While some companies are forcing workers back to the office, others are doubling down on remote.

According to Forbes and FlexJobs, these 20 companies are actively hiring for fully remote positions paying $100,000 or more:

Fintech & Finance: Affirm, Kraken

Tech & SaaS: Atlassian, Dropbox, HubSpot, StackAdapt, Twilio

Cybersecurity: CrowdStrike

Streaming & Social Media: Spotify, Reddit, Pinterest

Insurance: Allstate, Humana

Biotech: Amgen

Education: Amplify Education, Pearson, Stride Inc.

Logistics: Ryder

Consulting: BELAY

Design & Marketing: Vista

Some of the salary ranges are significant. Reddit is hiring Senior Analytics Engineers at $190,800 to $267,100. Spotify has Android Engineer roles at $189,592 to $215,249. Atlassian is looking for Account Managers at $134,100 to $175,075.

These companies have built distributed teams into how they operate. The model works.

The Loyalty Shift

Workers are not just changing preferences. They are changing directions.

FlexJobs found that 69% of professionals have switched career fields or seriously considered it in the past year. The top reason? Wanting more remote work options, cited by 67% of respondents. Work-life balance came second at 52%. Job fulfillment followed at 48%.

The data also shows a trust problem. 27% of workers report feeling less loyal to their employers than before. 58% say their career expectations have changed significantly since entering the workforce.

Working parents feel the pressure most. 65% said remote or hybrid work would better support their families. 60% admitted to hiding family responsibilities at work just to appear more committed.

The message is clear. Flexibility is no longer a perk to negotiate. It is the baseline. The companies that understand this will attract the best people. The ones still debating it will watch them leave.