Do I have a worse chance applying to remote SWE jobs in a small state? /u/absolutemurphman CSCQ protests reddit

I’ve been unemployed from being a remote SWE for about two months (4 YoE). Currently I live in Iowa, but I’m considering moving to Illinois. I’ve been applying to lots of remote jobs, and maybe 1 in 20 of these jobs ask if I live in a list of different states or would be willing to relocate to one of those states.

For example, one job I just applied to had the following as a part of their yes/no questionnaire: “Do you live in one of the following states: AK, AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, HI, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, WA?”

It made me wonder, are there only a certain amount of states that each company is allowed to hire from for tax purposes? How common would it be to be filtered out of a list of potential candidates because I don’t live in a state they’d be willing to hire from?

Really I’m just wondering if moving to Illinois will increase my chances of being hired for a remote position, even if the job itself isn’t in Illinois. Does anyone have a ballpark guess as to how common candidates are shortlisted for remote positions based on the states they live in? 10% of the time? 20% of the time? <1% of the time? I’d appreciate any insight or good guesses.

I’ve been unemployed from being a remote SWE for about two months (4 YoE). Currently I live in Iowa, but I’m considering moving to Illinois. I’ve been applying to lots of remote jobs, and maybe 1 in 20 of these jobs ask if I live in a list of different states or would be willing to relocate to one of those states.

For example, one job I just applied to had the following as a part of their yes/no questionnaire: “Do you live in one of the following states: AK, AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, HI, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, WA?”

It made me wonder, are there only a certain amount of states that each company is allowed to hire from for tax purposes? How common would it be to be filtered out of a list of potential candidates because I don’t live in a state they’d be willing to hire from?

Really I’m just wondering if moving to Illinois will increase my chances of being hired for a remote position, even if the job itself isn’t in Illinois. Does anyone have a ballpark guess as to how common candidates are shortlisted for remote positions based on the states they live in? 10% of the time? 20% of the time? <1% of the time? I’d appreciate any insight or good guesses.