When it comes to the country’s top metro areas for tech hiring, 2021 ended in much the same way it began, with newer tech hubs such as Dallas and Washington, DC enjoying strong demand. Meanwhile, “old school” hubs such as New York City managed to maintain their robust base of tech jobs.
For this metro-area breakdown, we’re relying on CompTIA’s analysis of the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data. As you can see, New York City enjoyed the largest number of open tech positions in December, followed by Dallas, Washington, DC, and Los Angeles:
Throughout 2021, Texas has been one of the tech industry’s big success stories. Numerous companies (including Oracle, Tesla, and Apple) have either set up new headquarters or radically expanded their corporate footprints in Austin. Dallas also enjoyed significant tech demand, as massive corporations in the city (including Deloitte, Raytheon, Microsoft, JP Morgan Chase, and City) all vie for technologists with a variety of skills. As we progress through 2022, the state’s low tax rates and friendly business environment could continue to attract significant tech investment.
In Washington, DC, meanwhile, the federal government continues to hire loads of tech talent. The metro area, however, is drawing more activity from some of the biggest names in tech, including Amazon, which is finishing construction on itshuge HQ2 facility right across the Potomac River in Virginia. Contractors that service federal agencies also need a steady stream of tech help.
If you’re interested in working in government tech, chances are good there’s an opening that aligns with your skills. For the 12 months ending in March 2021, the federal government grew by 34,577 employees, and the Biden administration’s budget for fiscal year 2022 estimated another 50,000 hires. The government conducts a substantial amount of in-house hiring via 18F (the portal for the GSA’s Technology Transformation Services), USDS, and hundreds of agencies. If you apply, just be ready for an extensive application and interview process, including an exhaustive background check.
Despite the momentum behind these “up and coming” tech hubs, Silicon Valley and New York City managed to maintain hiring momentum throughout 2021. Complaints about things like cost of living aside, thousands of technologists want to live and work in these well-established tech hubs, where companies will likely continue hiring in vast numbers for quite some time to come.
