Whether you are moving to escape climate change impacts—or to find a lower cost of living or a different lifestyle—an incentive program can help you choose where to go and make it easier to settle in.
Justin and Millie Wieczorek, like many young couples, have a sense of adventure and willingness to seek out new places to live. Their latest home, which they found with the help ofMakeMyMove, a worker relocation platform launched in 2017, is McCordsville in the greater Indianapolis area.
“When we first started dating 17 years ago, we went to Chicago, so we’ve always had an affection for the Midwest,” Justin says. “But Indianapolis seems like the sweet spot for us now.”
Since Justin works remotely in lighting sales for the film industry and Millie works in public health, the couple, who grew up in a small town in Nebraska, can live almost anywhere. After living in Los Angeles for a few years, they moved to Marietta, Ga., to be near the film industry hub in Atlanta but enjoy a small town lifestyle.
While climate change wasn’t the prime motivator for the Wieczoreks desire to leave Georgia, it was a consideration when they weighed their options through MakeMyMove. They particularly wanted to escape the increasingly extreme heat and humidity and wanted to avoid areas prone to hurricanes and flooding.
Nearly two in five (39%) real estate agents agree that climate change is impacting consumer choices about where to live and what home to buy, according to a2025 survey by Redfin. Increased exposure to more extreme natural disasters, which are tied to climate change, contributes to increased insurance costs, too. Nearly half (47%) of all agents encountered more issues with home insurance during a transaction in 2025, compared to the previous year, according to the survey. The share was much higher in California (72.7%) and Florida (72.6%).
Climate anxiety, which could lead some people to relocate, impacts 87% of people in the Gen Z generation, according to Green Builder Media’sCOGNITION Smart Data.
Relocating with Incentives
With anestimated 26% of people working at fully remote positions, according to a 2025 Gallup Poll, many people have the option to relocate to a community with fewer extreme climate impacts and a lower cost of living, including housing.
At the same time, there are communities looking to increase their population and level of homeownership. Putting those groups together is what led Evan Hock, cofounder and COO of MakeMyMove, to start his company in 2017.
“We started it as a project to help Indiana attract workers,” Hock says. “The workforce there was shrinking, so we put together a tech and marketing process to attract people and companies.”
Once the pandemic hit, MakeMyMove included outreach to remote workers to entice them to various communities.
“We launched it as an experiment but we’ve been so successful we’re now working with dozens of communities in the Midwest, along with Pennsylvania and Georgia,” Hock says. “We serve as the middleman to help people find the quality of life they want and to help economic development in different communities.”
MakeMyMove recruits workers on behalf of local employers as well as remote workers.
“Often if we attract a remote worker, they want to move with a partner who may be a good fit for another employer,” Hook says.
MakeMyMove has more than 178 programs, is actively working with about 250,000 now and has moved thousands of people so far, according to Hock.
“The incentive programs are creative and varied, with some providing a cash incentive of $2,000 to $15,000 to people who move to their community,” Hock says. “Most people are moving for quality of life and use the cash to offset the cost of moving.”
In addition, communities offer other enticements such as tickets to local sports or cultural events, or gatherings to meet their neighbors.
“Muncie, Ind., offered people who move through our program a seat on a nonprofit board because they realized that a lot of people are looking for a sense of community,” Hook says.
The rules for movers vary, but most programs are funded by the local economic development board, and they’re looking for new taxpayers, Hook says. Typically, a full-time remote worker needs to stay in a community from 12 to 18 months to qualify for incentives. For people looking for employment, they need to find a job to qualify for the incentives.
“Local people come up with ideas for what to include with financial incentives,” Hook says. “Some places set up formal monthly potluck dinners so locals and transplants can get to know each other. Others plan group hikes and outings. In Lincoln, Kan., they arranged for local high school kids to unload the moving van for people who moved there.”
Meandering Path to Homeownership
For the Wieczoreks, the cost of living in Los Angeles was an incentive to try other locations. Plus, Justin’s sales territory covers the Midwest to the East Coast, so it wasn’t necessary to be in California, as much as they loved it.
“We moved to Georgia and realized that we had kind of romanticized the idea of the South and Southern hospitality,” Millie says. “We were living in a rural area similar to Nebraska, so there were fewer opportunities for me there.”
Now that the couple has settled in Indiana, Millie works for the YMCA of Greater Indianapolis as an associate director for community health initiatives.
“I signed up on MakeMyMove in July 2024 and started looking for a central location with an airport for work,” Justin says. “We chose Noblesville, Ind., because they had a good incentive, but we decided to live at first in an Airbnb so we could look around a little without moving all our furniture out of storage.”
Ultimately, the Wieczoreks decided they wanted to move closer to Indianapolis, in part because they wanted to buy a house and didn’t find one in Noblesville. They gave up the cash incentive, but the move to McCordsville came with the perk of finding a home to buy.
“Plus, we got to do some cool things,” Justin says. “We were given tickets to a practice day of the Indy 500, a basketball game, and an opera.”
They purchased a home for $369,000 with the help of their real estate agent, Erin Martin Scott with F.C. Tucker Real Estate.
“We found a house we liked, but it needed a new roof and new windows, but when we made an offer the seller never countered it,” Millie says. “A few months later the seller got a new agent, who replaced the roof and painted at his own expense since the house had been on the market for almost a year. Erin helped us negotiate to get the windows fixed, too.”
The Wieczoreks were able to make a few upgrades–naturally including lighting–and are settling into their new home with their dog Seamus and their two cats, Harry and Albus. They credit MakeMyMove with helping them learn about their new community and get to know people who live there.
“When people are thinking about moving, they really want a sense of a welcoming community,” Hook says. “That matters way more than the cash.”
Communities Need Residents—and They’ll Pay You to Become One
Whether you are moving to escape climate change impacts—or to find a lower cost of living or a different lifestyle—an incentive program can help you choose where to go and make it easier to settle in.
Justin and Millie Wieczorek, like many young couples, have a sense of adventure and willingness to seek out new places to live. Their latest home, which they found with the help of MakeMyMove, a worker relocation platform launched in 2017, is McCordsville in the greater Indianapolis area.
“When we first started dating 17 years ago, we went to Chicago, so we’ve always had an affection for the Midwest,” Justin says. “But Indianapolis seems like the sweet spot for us now.”
Since Justin works remotely in lighting sales for the film industry and Millie works in public health, the couple, who grew up in a small town in Nebraska, can live almost anywhere. After living in Los Angeles for a few years, they moved to Marietta, Ga., to be near the film industry hub in Atlanta but enjoy a small town lifestyle.
While climate change wasn’t the prime motivator for the Wieczoreks desire to leave Georgia, it was a consideration when they weighed their options through MakeMyMove. They particularly wanted to escape the increasingly extreme heat and humidity and wanted to avoid areas prone to hurricanes and flooding.
Nearly two in five (39%) real estate agents agree that climate change is impacting consumer choices about where to live and what home to buy, according to a 2025 survey by Redfin. Increased exposure to more extreme natural disasters, which are tied to climate change, contributes to increased insurance costs, too. Nearly half (47%) of all agents encountered more issues with home insurance during a transaction in 2025, compared to the previous year, according to the survey. The share was much higher in California (72.7%) and Florida (72.6%).
Climate anxiety, which could lead some people to relocate, impacts 87% of people in the Gen Z generation, according to Green Builder Media’s COGNITION Smart Data.
Relocating with Incentives
With an estimated 26% of people working at fully remote positions, according to a 2025 Gallup Poll, many people have the option to relocate to a community with fewer extreme climate impacts and a lower cost of living, including housing.
At the same time, there are communities looking to increase their population and level of homeownership. Putting those groups together is what led Evan Hock, cofounder and COO of MakeMyMove, to start his company in 2017.
“We started it as a project to help Indiana attract workers,” Hock says. “The workforce there was shrinking, so we put together a tech and marketing process to attract people and companies.”
Once the pandemic hit, MakeMyMove included outreach to remote workers to entice them to various communities.
“We launched it as an experiment but we’ve been so successful we’re now working with dozens of communities in the Midwest, along with Pennsylvania and Georgia,” Hock says. “We serve as the middleman to help people find the quality of life they want and to help economic development in different communities.”
MakeMyMove recruits workers on behalf of local employers as well as remote workers.
“Often if we attract a remote worker, they want to move with a partner who may be a good fit for another employer,” Hook says.
MakeMyMove has more than 178 programs, is actively working with about 250,000 now and has moved thousands of people so far, according to Hock.
“The incentive programs are creative and varied, with some providing a cash incentive of $2,000 to $15,000 to people who move to their community,” Hock says. “Most people are moving for quality of life and use the cash to offset the cost of moving.”
In addition, communities offer other enticements such as tickets to local sports or cultural events, or gatherings to meet their neighbors.
“Muncie, Ind., offered people who move through our program a seat on a nonprofit board because they realized that a lot of people are looking for a sense of community,” Hook says.
The rules for movers vary, but most programs are funded by the local economic development board, and they’re looking for new taxpayers, Hook says. Typically, a full-time remote worker needs to stay in a community from 12 to 18 months to qualify for incentives. For people looking for employment, they need to find a job to qualify for the incentives.
“Local people come up with ideas for what to include with financial incentives,” Hook says. “Some places set up formal monthly potluck dinners so locals and transplants can get to know each other. Others plan group hikes and outings. In Lincoln, Kan., they arranged for local high school kids to unload the moving van for people who moved there.”
Meandering Path to Homeownership
For the Wieczoreks, the cost of living in Los Angeles was an incentive to try other locations. Plus, Justin’s sales territory covers the Midwest to the East Coast, so it wasn’t necessary to be in California, as much as they loved it.
“We moved to Georgia and realized that we had kind of romanticized the idea of the South and Southern hospitality,” Millie says. “We were living in a rural area similar to Nebraska, so there were fewer opportunities for me there.”
Now that the couple has settled in Indiana, Millie works for the YMCA of Greater Indianapolis as an associate director for community health initiatives.
“I signed up on MakeMyMove in July 2024 and started looking for a central location with an airport for work,” Justin says. “We chose Noblesville, Ind., because they had a good incentive, but we decided to live at first in an Airbnb so we could look around a little without moving all our furniture out of storage.”
Ultimately, the Wieczoreks decided they wanted to move closer to Indianapolis, in part because they wanted to buy a house and didn’t find one in Noblesville. They gave up the cash incentive, but the move to McCordsville came with the perk of finding a home to buy.
“Plus, we got to do some cool things,” Justin says. “We were given tickets to a practice day of the Indy 500, a basketball game, and an opera.”
They purchased a home for $369,000 with the help of their real estate agent, Erin Martin Scott with F.C. Tucker Real Estate.
“We found a house we liked, but it needed a new roof and new windows, but when we made an offer the seller never countered it,” Millie says. “A few months later the seller got a new agent, who replaced the roof and painted at his own expense since the house had been on the market for almost a year. Erin helped us negotiate to get the windows fixed, too.”
The Wieczoreks were able to make a few upgrades–naturally including lighting–and are settling into their new home with their dog Seamus and their two cats, Harry and Albus. They credit MakeMyMove with helping them learn about their new community and get to know people who live there.
“When people are thinking about moving, they really want a sense of a welcoming community,” Hook says. “That matters way more than the cash.”
Publisher’s Note: This content is made possible by our Today’s Homeowner Campaign Sponsors: Whirlpool Corporation. Whirlpool Corporation takes sustainability seriously, in both their products and their operations. Learn more about building and buying homes that are more affordable and less resource intensive.
By Michele Lerner, Associate Editor
Michele Lerner is an award-winning freelance writer, editor, and author who writes about real estate, personal finance, and business.Also Read