Report · Culture

Most Americans would job-hunt close to home

Reading

If they were looking for a new job, nearly eight-in-ten Americans (79%) would be willing to search in their own city, town, or village, and two-thirds (67%) would search the immediate neighborhood or community around where they live, according to a May 2026 Verasight survey.

Willingness thins with distance: 41% would look across their region or state, 21% in regions or states close to theirs, 19% anywhere in the country, and just 9% in other countries.

Topline

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Selected responses

Most Americans would job-hunt close to home.

Imagine you were actively searching for a new job. Please select from the following environments the places you would be willing to search for this new job

  • My city, town, or village (the larger area around where I live) 78.6%
  • My neighborhood or local community (the area immediately around where I live) 66.7%
  • My region or state 41.1%
  • In regions or states close to mine 20.8%
  • Anywhere in the country as a whole 18.5%
  • Other countries outside of the one I currently live in 9.0%

2026 · base n 1,000 · +/- 3.3%

daily_life

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Methodology

Full methodology
Mode
Verasight panel recruited via random address-based sampling, random person-to-person text messaging, and dynamic online targeting
Field dates
2026-05-11 → 2026-05-11
Base (unweighted)
1,000
Margin of error
+/- 3.3%
Module
daily_life

Source

Citation

Verasight SPSP Omnibus Survey #2026-045, fielded May 11-11, 2026, N=1,000 US adults age 18+, +/- 3.3%.

https://reports.verasight.io/r/spsp26

Verasight survey methodology

How Verasight conducts surveys.

This page describes the Verasight general survey contract, separate from how the Data Library packages it. When a wave report is published, its field dates, sample sizes, and module breakdown are listed in that report.

Mode
Verasight panel recruited via random address-based sampling, random person-to-person text messaging, and dynamic online targeting.
Population
US adults age 18+.
Sample design
Surveys are run as omnibus or single-topic waves. Omnibus waves are split into modules with their own respondent set, typically around one thousand respondents per module.
Field window
Each wave specifies its own field dates. Most omnibus waves field across roughly two weeks.
Weighting
Per-module weighting to CPS targets including age, race and ethnicity, sex, income, education, region, and metropolitan status.
Partisanship benchmark
Pew Research Center's NPORS benchmarking surveys, three-year running average.
Vote benchmark
2024 presidential vote population benchmarks.
Margin of error
Typically about plus or minus 3.4 to 3.6 percent per module at standard module sizes. Question-level MoE is recomputed when a base shrinks materially below the module baseline.
Reporting
The canonical report hub is reports.verasight.io. Verified legacy reports remain on their original hosts, and unpublished reports are marked pending.
Transparency
Verasight is a member of the American Association for Public Opinion Research Transparency Initiative.

The canonical report hub is reports.verasight.io; older reports may remain on verified legacy hosts.