WASHINGTON — An annual report, “Scoring Tech Talent” from CBRE Group, ranks the Washington metro area behind only San Francisco and Seattle for the ability to attract and grow IT talent.
The report ranks 50 U.S. and Canadian markets.
Greater Washington scores high in two key areas: tech degree completions and tech labor concentration.
Washington ranks No. 2 among the 50 markets for annual technology degree graduates, at 10,526 in 2017, a 45 percent increase since 2012.
The region’s tech labor concentration — or percentage of total employment — is what CBRE calls an influential factor in how “tech-centric the market is and its growth potential. The Greater Washington Region has a tech talent labor pool of 248,150, or 8 percent of the region’s total employment.
The national average is 3.5 percent.
“The report shows that Greater Washington isn’t just for policy wonks. Recent years have seen the growth of the technology sector here,” said Rob Faktorow, vice chairman and regional leader of CBRE’s Data Center Solutions group.
“In the past several quarters, technology companies have been among the most active in the real estate market. As a result, owners are taking notice and creating more flexible and dynamic office options to enable these companies to compete for the best talent,” he said.
The D.C.-area ranks third for education attainment, with 57 percent of adults holding a bachelor’s degree or higher.
Washington ranks No. 4 for average tech salaries, at $111,111 a year, a nearly 10 percent jump from 2012.
And Washington ranks among the highest markets for the number of women in technology, with a third of tech jobs in this market held by women.
CBRE’s top 10 on its Scoring Tech Talent report:
- San Francisco
- Seattle
- Washington
- Toronto
- New York
- Austin, Texas
- Boston
- Raleigh-Durham. North Carolina
- Atlanta
- Denver