As businesses reopen, scale up, and increase hiring, we’ve seen shifts within the economic landscape. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, job openings for software developers have returned to pre-pandemic levels. They are expected to rise by 22% over ten years.
It can be expensive to start or continue your tech career in one the “tech star” cities like San Francisco, Seattle, or New York. We set out to find the most affordable cities in tech in the U.S., whether you’re just starting your career in development or have been in the business for a while and are looking to reduce living expenses. This report aims to highlight cities that are often overlooked, but have reasonable living costs and plenty of open developer jobs. It also highlights other viable options for starting or continuing a career as a tech professional.
Our research began with identifying the most populous cities in the U.S. by using the Census Bureau Vintage 2020 Demographic Estimates. To find the median rent, we used Apartment List’s Rent Estimates tool. A Boolean search on Indeed.com was used to determine the number of available developer jobs within a 25 mile radius of a given City.
The cities were then ranked and assigned an “entry level score” and “mid-level score”, with housing cost weighted at 45 percent and the quantity of jobs at 55%. This weighting was chosen to give a slight advantage to job availability and filter out low-rent cities with very few jobs. Finally, we created a composite score for tech relocation where both entry-level and middle-level scores were equally weighted (50%).
Let’s get to it!
Dallas, TX
Photo courtesy wikipedia.orgDallas is a rising tech hub for many decades. The median rent has not caught up to the rest of the country (yet!). San Francisco is a great place to live. You might be wise to move to Silicon Prairie to pursue a career in tech. There are many large employers like AT&T, Lockheed Martin and Texas Instruments. Median Rent: $1,270Entry-Level Developer Jobs: 167Mid-Level Developer Jobs: 752
Leander, TX
Photo courtesy mymilestone.comLeander is a small, affordable city just 30 minutes from Austin. It offers many jobs and all the benefits that come with living in a big city. Median Rent: $1,282Entry-Level Developer Jobs: 123Mid-Level Developer Jobs: 674
Atlanta, GA
Atlanta offers a great place for a relocation. There are 130 entry-level developer jobs. 612 middle-level developer jobs.
Philadelphia, PA
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.org. With major employers like Sidecar, Odessa and Comcast, the “City of Brotherly Love” may be the right place for you to start your career in tech. Philadelphia leaders have made it their mission to expand the tech sector. A $500,000 investment was recently made to diversify the region’s talent pool. Median Rent: $1,223Entry-Level Developer Jobs: 124Mid-Level Developer Jobs: 460
Phoenix, AZ
Photo courtesy wikipedia.org. The weather in Phoenix isn’t the only thing that’s hot. So are the job opportunities! Four Fortune 500 companies call the city home, as well as GoDaddy, an internet domain registrar firm, and Honeywell Aerospace division. Phoenix is home to large offices of tech giants such as Lyft, Intel, and TEKsystems. Median Rent: $1,309Entry-Level Developer Jobs: 130Mid-Level Developer Jobs: 360
Houston, Texas
Photo courtesy wikipedia.orgHouston ranks third on the list of Texas cities, which shows just how many tech companies are flocking from Texas to work in the Lone Star State. Houston is a great place to start a career in tech. There are major campuses and headquarters for companies such as FlightAware, Microsoft, Halliburton and many other. Median Rent: $1,141Entry-Level Developer Jobs: 81Mid-Level Developer Jobs: 278
Washington D.C.
Washington D.C. is the home of the nation’s capital, a number of monuments, as well as a growing tech scene. The District is home to many great jobs and is also close by other job centers like Baltimore, Arlington, and others. Median Rent: $1,737Entry-Level Developer Jobs: 326Mid-Level Developer Jobs: 1,509
Columbus, OH
DCIM100MEDIADJI_0531.JPGColumbus isn’t just Ohio’s capital anymore – it’s also becoming a capital in the tech industry, too. DCIM100MEDIADJI_0531.JPGColumbus is becoming a major hub for the tech industry, with notable employers like Accenture, Facebook, JPMorgan Chase and IBM.
Indianapolis, IN
Photo courtesy of o
