Which cities have the most open tech-job postings? As we head into 2020 (and a portion of technologists inevitably begin their New Year job search), that’s a vital question.
Based on a dataset generated by Burning Glass, which collects and analyzes millions of job postings from across the country, it’s clear that the nation’s biggest tech hubs—including New York, Seattle and San Francisco—boast a huge number of open jobs. But that’s not the whole story: There’s also quite a bit of activity among up-and-coming cities such as Atlanta, Charlotte, and Raleigh. Check out the full list:
At first glance, it might seem that New York is mightily outpacing all other tech cities. However, when we regard San Francisco as part of Silicon Valley—and add the open jobs from San Jose and Sunnyvale to its total—that gap significantly decreases. Although New York boasts a well-earned reputation as “Silicon Alley,” with tech activity on par with its West Coast rival, it seems that Silicon Valley is still generating quite a bit of demand for technologists (despite a plethora of issues, including sky-high housing costs).
What’s interesting—and heartening for those technologists who have zero intention of moving to a major tech hub—is that the number of open tech jobs in these smaller cities is nearly on par with what you find in parts of Silicon Valley. For example, Charlotte, NC, boasts just 2,000 fewer job openings than San Francisco, and roughly 1,500 more than San Jose. Atlanta, Dallas, San Diego, and Houston—large cities, but not widely viewed as tech hubs—are outpacing Seattle, the headquarters of major firms such as Amazon. Thematically, that pushes back against the narrative that a handful of big tech hubs are consolidating the bulk of the nation’s tech-related jobs and investment.
Moving into the next year (and the next decade), it’s clear that the rise of smaller tech cities around the country—combined with the growing prevalence of remote work—means that technologists don’t need to move to Silicon Valley or Silicon Alley if they want to land a great job, especially if they have the right combination of experience and skills.
Speaking of which, here are the tech skills with the most open job postings at the moment (according to Burning Glass):
What’s great is that employers are clearly on the hunt for technologists with a broad range of skills, no matter which cities the former are based in. Whatever your background, chances are good that you can find a few openings that match your career aspirations—provided you’re actually looking for a job in 2020, of course.
