For the last few yeas following the onset of the pandemic, remote work has been preferred for a large number of employees—however, it may be costing them more than they think.

Per new data from the ADP Research Institute, people who work in leadership roles tend to live in more bustling, costlier cities, while people who work in support roles move to secondary cities with more affordable living costs.

The report found that “more expensive cities have, on average, become increasingly more specialized in managerial tasks since the onset of the pandemic, while more affordable ones have become increasingly more specialized in individual contributor and frontline work.”

As ESSENCE previously pointed out, financial education platform Smart Asset recently released findings from a wide-reaching survey on how far a $100,000 salary goes in several metro areas across the US. As the report shows, while the range was once regarded as a key pathway to a comfortable life, inflation has quickly wrecked that, in some cites at least. According to the findings, $100K goes furthest in Memphis and comes up the shortest in New York City. There, the salary feels like $35,791 when taxes and the cost of living is factored in.

As Black Enterprise points out, “domestic offshoring,” allows companies to cut costs by shifting low level customer service and administrative jobs to cheaper areas while still being headquartered in costlier cities.

This shift may adversely affect companies headquartered in smaller towns.

The outlet also states that the study suggests that companies benefit from keeping management roles in larger metropolitan areas like New York and Chicago. Leaders from large companies, universities, competitors, and media professionals can network and exchange ideas in person, which is still preferred over video conferencing.