Tiebout's Pure Theory of Local Expenditures paper makes a lot of assumptions -- some more unrealistic than others. Though the assumptions of perfect information, perfect mobility, and lack of externalities between localities (among others) remain unimproved by the Coronavirus pandemic, it's much easier to make a decision to move when you can continue telecommuting to your old job. In this article by the Kinder Institute, authors suggest that for companies continuing the remote work model, employees could end up working from the location of their choosing. A poll from Gallup even found that most workers don't want to go back. This will affect recently graduated college alumni in particular, who are applying to jobs that aren't tied to a location at all.
In a world where your job is in your computer, objections to Tiebout's occupational mobility assumptions are rendered useless. While not everyone will adopt the telecommuting model, many will take the opportunity to vote with their feet to a new location that better suits their preferences for the provision of public goods.
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I completely agree that Covid has changed what the workplace looks like for good. Many cities like New York and LA have seen masses of people (mostly young) voting with their feet and moving away - whether that be back in with parents, the suburbs, etc. People are now able to keep jobs with headquarters in big cities with a high cost of living without suffering high rents. The dollars that you make at your job could stretch much further if you moved somewhere where the cost of living was lower. I am really curious to see how this plays out in the coming years. Will young people with little savings or cushion money choose to telecommute from places where they can exist more cheaply - and then move into cities when they begin to earn enough? Will wages begin to be tied to where you are working from (ex: someone doing a job in NYC would earn more person doing the same job for the same company in a suburb in New Jersey). This article (https://www.brookings.edu/research/where-work-pays-how-does-where-you-live-matter-for-your-earnings/) talks about how people who are more highly educated are also more willing to pay more for amenities like restaurants, cultural attractions which are things you are more likely to find in a city.
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