Best Cities for Tech Jobs

From Business Week...

30 Best Cities for Tech Jobs

By Albert Sun

Tech geeks, take note: Silicon Valley is still the center of the technology universe, but if you're thinking about a career in computing and want to avoid the Bay Area's sky-high cost of living, consider another locale—say, Durham, N.C., or even Huntsville, Ala.

Flip through this slide show for a glimpse of the 30 cities boasting the most high-tech jobs per capita. The American Electronics Assn., a trade group, compiled statistics on 60 cities using Labor Dept. data from 2006, the most recent period for which it's available. The slides rank cities by tech job density and include data on total jobs, growth in that total from 2005, average annual IT salary, ranking by salary, and biggest sector in each city.

Slides also include tech or health-care employers in the region, based on information from City-Data.com and other sources.

Summary:

1. San Jose/Silicon Valley
2. Boulder, Colo.
3. Huntsville, Ala.
4. Durham, N.C.
5. Washington, D.C.
6. Manchester, N.H.
7. Colorado Springs, Colo.
8. Austin, Tex.
9. Palm Bay-Melbourne, Fla.
10. Albuquerque, N.M.
11. San Diego
12. Raleigh, N.C.
13. San Francisco
14. Oakland, Calif.
15. Boston
16. Seattle
17. Boise, Idaho
18. Portland, Ore.
19. Denver
20. Kansas City, Mo., and Kansas City, Kan.
21. Orange County, Calif.
22. Dallas-Fort Worth
23. Baltimore
24. Detroit
25. Salt Lake City
26. Minneapolis-St. Paul
27. Atlanta
28. Sacramento
29. Albany, N.Y.
30. Ventura, Calif.


Full listing:

1. San Jose/Silicon Valley
Jobs per 1,000: 285.92
Total: 225,343
Rank: 3
Growth: 3%
Average wage: $144,828
Salary Rank: 1
Biggest sector: computer systems design
Area employers: Google (GOOG), Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Apple (AAPL)

2. Boulder, Colo.
Jobs per 1,000: 230.45
Total: 30,533
Rank: 38
Growth: 1%
Average wage: $96,077
Salary Rank: 6
Biggest sector: computer systems design
Area employers: IBM, Level 3 Communications (LVLT)

3. Huntsville, Ala.
Jobs per 1,000: 188.46
Total: 28,806
Rank: 40
Growth: 1%
Average wage: $65,848
Salary Rank: 50
Biggest sector: engineering services
Area employer: Bechtel

4. Durham, N.C.
Jobs per 1,000: 155.94
Total: 33,454
Rank: 36
Growth: 8%
Average wage: $95,551
Salary Rank: 7
Biggest sector: R&D and testing labs
Area employer: Duke University

5. Washington, D.C.
Jobs per 1,000: 132.02
Total: 295,834
Rank: 2
Growth: 2%
Average wage: $92,718
Salary Rank: 9
Biggest sector: computer systems design
Area employer: Sprint Nextel

6. Manchester, N.H.
Jobs per 1,000: 123.89
Total: 21,695
Rank: 49
Growth: 0%
Average wage: $81,683
Salary Rank: 21
Biggest sector: measuring and control instruments manufacturing
Area employer: Verizon

7. Colorado Springs, Colo.
Jobs per 1,000: 122.43
Total: 25,498
Rank: 45
Growth: -3%
Average wage: $74,673
Salary Rank: 29
Biggest sector: computer systems design
Area employer: Hewlett-Packard

8. Austin, Tex.
Jobs per 1,000: 121.40
Total: 68,760
Rank: 23
Growth: 3%
Average wage: $100,536
Salary Rank: 3
Biggest sector: electronic components manufacturing
Area employer: Dell (DELL)

9. Palm Bay-Melbourne, Fla.
Jobs per 1,000: 115.56
Total: 20,705
Rank: 52
Growth: -1%
Average wage: $68,838
Salary Rank: 39
Biggest sector: electronic components manufacturing
Area employer: Raytheon (RTN)

10. Albuquerque, N.M.
Jobs per 1,000: 112.80
Total: 34,432
Rank: 32
Growth: 1%
Average wage: $65,853
Salary Rank: 49
Biggest sector: R&D and testing labs
Area employer: Intel

11. San Diego
Jobs per 1,000: 96.99
Total: 106,358
Rank: 13
Growth: 1%
Average wage: $92,328
Salary Rank: 10
Biggest sector: R&D and testing labs
Area employer: Qualcomm (QCOM)

12. Raleigh, N.C.
Jobs per 1,000: 94.58
Total: 37,144
Rank: 31
Growth: 3%
Average wage: $74,285
Salary Rank: 31
Biggest sector: computer systems design
Area employer: IBM

13. San Francisco
Jobs per 1,000: 93.84
Total: 79,442
Rank: 19
Growth: 3%
Average wage: $118,518
Salary Rank: 2
Biggest sector: computer systems design
Area employers: Salesforce.com (CRM), Genentech (DNA)

14. Oakland, Calif.
Jobs per 1,000: 93.43
Total: 81,406
Rank: 17
Growth: 1%
Average wage: $96,930
Salary Rank: 4
Biggest sector: computer systems design
Area employer: Ask.com, owned by IAC Interactive (IACI)

15. Boston
Jobs per 1,000: 92.78
Total: 191,690
Rank: 4
Growth: 2%
Average wage: $95,100
Salary Rank: 8
Biggest sector: computer systems design
Area employer: Massachusetts General Hospital

16. Seattle
Jobs per 1,000: 90.74
Total: 127,680
Rank: 9
Growth: 7%
Average wage: $96,197
Salary Rank: 5
Biggest sector: software publishers
Area employers: Microsoft (MSFT), T-Mobile USA (DT)

17. Boise, Idaho
Jobs per 1,000: 89.78
Total:
Rank: 51
Growth: -1%
Average wage: $70,066
Salary Rank: 37
Biggest sector: computer systems design
Area employer: Micron Technology (MU)

18. Portland, Ore.
Jobs per 1,000: 84.41
Total: 73,735
Rank: 20
Growth: 4%
Average wage: $78,958
Salary Rank: 25
Biggest sector: semiconductor manufacturing
Area employer: Intel

19. Denver
Jobs per 1,000: 77.90
Total: 80,542
Rank: 18
Growth: 0%
Average wage: $87,901
Salary Rank: 13
Biggest sector: telecommunications serviecs
Area employer: Qwest Communications International

20. Kansas City, Mo., and Kansas City, Kan.
Jobs per 1,000: 75.78
Total: 62,118
Rank: 24
Growth: 3%
Average wage: $72,411
Salary Rank: 32
Biggest sector: telecommunications services
Area employer: Sprint Nextel (S)

21. Orange County, Calif.
Jobs per 1,000: 73.77
Total: 100,895
Rank: 14
Growth: 1%
Average wage: $81,914
Salary Rank: 20
Biggest sector: computer systems design
Area employer: Allergan (AGN)

22. Dallas-Fort Worth
Jobs per 1,000: 71.91
Total: 176,010
Rank: 5
Growth: 2%
Average wage: $83,133
Salary Rank: 18
Biggest sector: telecommunications services
Area employers: AT&T, EDS (EDS)

23. Baltimore
Jobs per 1,000: 69.03
Total: 71,211
Rank: 22
Growth: 2%
Average wage: $79,144
Salary Rank: 24
Biggest sector: computer systems design
Area employer: Northrup Grumman (NOC)

24. Detroit
Jobs per 1,000: 68.24
Total: 115,082
Rank: 12
Growth: -3%
Average wage: $80,109
Salary Rank: 23
Biggest sector: R&D and testing labs
Area employers: The Detroit Medical Center, St. John Health

25. Salt Lake City
Jobs per 1,000: 66.97
Total: 34,344
Rank: 33
Growth: 7%
Average wage: $59,572
Salary Rank: 57
Biggest sector: computer systems design
Area employer: Qwest Communications International (Q)

26. Minneapolis-St. Paul
Jobs per 1,000: 64.59
Total: 98,059
Rank: 15
Growth: 0%
Average wage: $75,630
Salary Rank: 28
Biggest sector: computer systems design
Area employer: Mayo Clinic

27. Atlanta
Jobs per 1,000: 63.93
Total: 126,672
Rank: 10
Growth: 2%
Average wage: $82,372
Salary Rank: 19
Biggest sector: telecommunications services
Area employers: AT&T (T), IBM (IBM)

28. Sacramento
Jobs per 1,000: 63.9
Total: 43,699
Rank: 29
Growth: 3%
Average wage: $83,518
Salary Rank: 15
Biggest sector: telecommunications services
Area employers: Intel (INTC), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ)

29. Albany, N.Y.
Jobs per 1,000: 62.85
Total: 20,373
Rank: 53
Growth: 2%
Average wage: $76,592
Salary Rank: 27
Biggest sector: research and design, and testing labs
Area employers: General Electric (GE), Verizon (VZ)

30. Ventura, Calif.
Jobs per 1,000: 62.80
Total: 17,255
Rank: 60
Growth: -4%
Average wage: $69,707
Salary Rank: 38
Biggest sector: engineering services
Area employer: Amgen (AMGN)

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Well that's good that San Diego scores highly on that chart because I plan to get a job in the tech (IT) area.

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