12 Dec Domestic Corporate Relocation is Quietly Gearing Up for 2026

Corporate relocation rarely returns with fanfare. It tends to reappear quietly, through budget line items, policy changes, and small but telling shifts in workforce planning. That is exactly what appears to be happening now. After several years of pandemic-era pause and experimentation, domestic corporate relocation is beginning to regain momentum—and the data suggests 2026 may be the year that momentum becomes unmistakable.

According to the Atlas Van Lines 58th Annual Corporate Relocation Survey, domestic relocations increased in 2024 even as international moves declined. While the rise—about three percent—may seem modest, it stands out in a year marked by economic uncertainty, high mortgage rates, and lingering housing constraints. More importantly, it reflects a deeper shift in how companies are using relocation: not as a blanket policy, but as a targeted response to talent, productivity, and geography.

That shift is likely to accelerate.

Growing need to move people

One of the clearest signals from the survey is the resurgence of in-person work. More than 60 percent of companies reported having a full on-site return-to-work plan in 2024, a noticeable increase from the year before. At the same time, companies did not abandon flexibility altogether. Hybrid work remains common, but it is now more structured, with tighter geographic and attendance requirements.

This matters for relocation because many employees were hired remotely during the pandemic without long-term assumptions about where they would ultimately work. As hybrid models mature, companies are clarifying which roles need proximity to regional hubs, leadership teams, or client-facing operations. In those cases, relocation becomes less about preference and more about alignment.

Rather than reopening offices everywhere, employers are consolidating around fewer, more intentional locations. The result is a growing need to move people—not en masse, but selectively.

The survey underscores that talent availability remains a persistent constraint. Nearly 30 percent of companies cited a lack of qualified local candidates as a key external factor influencing relocation decisions. This pressure cuts across industries but is particularly acute for specialized, technical, and leadership roles.

When companies cannot find the skills they need locally, relocation becomes one of the fastest ways to close the gap. Unlike remote hiring, which can introduce compliance, time-zone, or collaboration challenges, domestic relocation allows organizations to place critical talent where it can have the most immediate impact.

In this context, relocation is less a perk than a business necessity—a way to sustain growth, manage restructuring, or transfer institutional knowledge.

Moving only under the right conditions

Another underappreciated trend is that fewer employees are declining relocation than in previous years. In 2024, 58 percent of companies reported at least one employee declining a move, down from 64 percent in 2023 and 68 percent in 2021. Acceptance is trending upward, but with clear caveats.

The top reasons employees still decline relocation are not ideological. They are practical: family responsibilities, housing and mortgage concerns, and dual-income household constraints. Nearly half of companies reported that housing-related issues—selling an existing home or securing affordable housing at the destination—played a role in relocation decisions.

Employers appear to be responding. The survey shows a sharp decline in employees’ declining moves due to insufficient financial support, suggesting that relocation benefits are becoming more realistic and responsive to current market conditions.

This matters for 2026 because it suggests that resistance to relocation is not hardening—it is conditional. When support improves, mobility follows.

Relocations policies are becoming looser

One of the more counterintuitive findings in the survey is that formal relocation policies declined sharply in 2024, even as relocation activity held steady or increased. This is not a sign of retreat. It reflects a move away from rigid, one-size-fits-all programs toward more discretionary, role-based approaches.

More companies reported that relocation benefits are now policy-dependent or employee-level dependent, rather than universally applied. Fixed and flexible benefits are increasingly tailored to the role, the business need, and the complexity of the move.

This flexibility allows companies to relocate talent without committing to expansive, permanent policies—and it makes relocation easier to activate when conditions change. As organizations continue to reorganize, consolidate offices, or strengthen regional hubs, this kind of agility will matter.

Corporate and office relocation signals

Employee relocation does not happen in isolation. The survey found that 30 percent of companies were considering moving offices to another city, often in search of better workforce availability or more business-friendly environments. These decisions tend to precede employee moves, not follow them.

At the same time, most companies are maintaining their existing office footprint rather than expanding it. This combination—stable footprints but changing locations—suggests that future relocation will be about redistribution rather than growth. Employees will be asked to move not because companies are getting bigger, but because they are getting more geographically intentional.

2026, the inflection point

Taken together, these signals point toward a quiet buildup. Budgets for relocation are holding or increasing. In-person work is rising. Talent shortages remain unresolved. Employees are more receptive when support improves. Policies are flexible enough to allow action.

None of this points to a sudden surge. Instead, it suggests a steady increase in selective, domestic relocation activity, particularly for roles tied to leadership, growth, and operational continuity.

In another piece by TRC Global Mobility, one executive was quoted as saying: “Relocation isn’t coming back as a volume play. It’s coming back as a precision tool—used when geography directly affects performance and retention.”

That precision is exactly what makes 2026 significant. The groundwork is already in place.

Domestic corporate relocation is no longer about restoring old patterns. It is about adapting to a workforce that is more distributed, more selective, and more sensitive to cost and quality-of-life tradeoffs.

For employers, the question is not whether relocation will return, but where and how intentionally it will be used. The data suggests that many organizations have already answered that question—and are preparing to move.