Becoming a digital nomad can be a shortcut to achieving financial independence because of geo-arbitrage – earning in a high-paying geography, while living in a lower-cost base. We bought a property in Costa Rica to secure that lower-cost base (see our budget for a month-long stay), while retaining predominately US clients paying US rates. Our move to Jacksonville, FL is less extreme geo-arbitrage, but still a good example given the significant cost savings compared to our previous expenses in New York City.
If you’re looking for location independent jobs, so you can try geo-arbitrage for yourself, accountant is the top job title for work-from-anywhere jobs. Marketing is the top career category for digital nomads. FluentU is the top company, with the highest volume of jobs that are location independent. These findings are courtesy of FlexJobs, a job board and information resource that specializes in flexible work arrangements, which includes remote jobs (but also part-time and project jobs).
Keep in mind that FlexJobs is analyzing its own database of postings, so these top lists may not be representative of the total universe of jobs, careers and companies. However, these lists are useful for understanding market trends and getting ideas of where to look.
Top jobs for digital nomads are highly skilled – what are your superpowers?
In addition to accountant, business development manager and copywriter rounded out the top 3. Several engineering and marketing roles also appeared in the top 10 jobs. The one administrative-sounding job that made the list at number 4 is customer success representative.
If we’re talking call center representative, then you don’t need special skills beyond solid communication skills. However, many customer success roles these days now require special skills – e.g., technical skills to troubleshoot service calls; deep product knowledge to help with complicated sales inquiries or sector skills to support specialized companies. For example, our older daughter works a customer success job for a healthcare agency, and routinely taps into her MSW degree and years of social service experience.
It makes sense that companies are going to grant the flexibility to work from anywhere to people that they trust to get specific results. Specific results require specific expertise. If you want to become a digital nomad, take an inventory of your specific expertise – e.g., technical skills, industry knowledge, other superpowers – so that you can be competitive for these digital nomad jobs. (Pro tip: even if a job isn’t listed as location independent, you might be able to negotiate for flexibility if the company wants you badly enough!)
Top career categories are varied – meaning lots of opportunity to find your perfect fit
After marketing, writing comes in at number 2 and computer & IT as number 3. Education, accounting, graphic design, HR and business development also appear in the top 10. Number 5 is “bilingual” which I am guessing includes any job where being bilingual is a requirement – this could represent multiple industries and roles! Project management also makes the list at number 9, and this functional activity could be part of lots of industries and roles.
The clear takeaway is that there are a lot of different career paths that include work-from-anywhere jobs. If you want to be a digital nomad, you aren’t confined to just a few courses of study or a narrow type of experience. You can find location independent opportunities in most any category of job. In addition, since companies are still navigating from the pandemic shutdown to a return-to-office, there is room to find your ideal mix of remote and onsite work.
Top companies are not household names — so do your research
I didn’t recognize any of the companies on the top companies list, except for Wikimedia Foundation at number 6 (they host Wikipedia!). Maybe you have heard of Finixia and Invisible Technologies? These are number 2 and 3, respectively, after FluentU. How about Magic Media & Entertainment Group, Study.com, Outliant, Cash App Yodo1 or Chainlink Labs? These are also in the top 10.
Again, the FlexJobs top lists are based on their own data, so this doesn’t represent the world of jobs. Still, it underscores how job seekers need to look outside familiar brand names. Don’t be afraid to look into companies you may not have heard of before, and dig deep to find out what prospective employers really want and need – so you can craft a work-from-anywhere solution that solves their problem.
If you’re not sure about the digital nomad life, take a test run
If you’ve never worked remotely, much less relocated to a brand new area, then this notion of building a career out of geo-arbitrage might seem overwhelming. You can always start small – e.g., find a remote job in your current geography, or make a temporary move. You can bounce back if you make a career change and it doesn’t work out!
We are Scott and Caroline, 50-somethings who spent the first 20+ years of our adult lives in New York City, working traditional careers and raising 2 kids. We left full-time work in our mid-40’s for location-independent, part-time consulting projects and real estate investing, in order to create a more flexible and travel-centric lifestyle. 
Financial independence and early retirement is not something we originally focused on, but over time realized it was possible. Our free report, 
