The 21st Century has been marked by technological improvements, from the creation of the smartphone to promising developments in artificial intelligence. It is no surprise that the labor force in technological sectors has grown along with these improvements. Where are the budding technology centers across America?
Using our Estimates and Projections database, we looked at Labor Force by sector and identified the Computer and Science Industry and the Information Industry as sectors with technology workers. Below we have mapped these two industries on a nationwide map using H4 level hexagons both in total number of employees and as a percentage of the population. For comparison, the total labor force map is also below.
When most people think about technology employment, the Bay area likely comes to mind, so it is no surprise that the San Jose metropolitan area jumps to the top of the list with nearly 14% of the population working in these roles. Seattle, home of Microsoft and Amazon, comes in second place with just over 9.3% of employees working in the sector.
While the coasts have long dominated in the technology sectors, several metro areas in the middle of the country have sizable technology sector employment, and most of these areas are growing in conjunction with this growing employment trend. While most don’t think about New Mexico as having a big technology center, Los Alamos is 4th on the list of largest percentage of technology sector jobs, with 8.17% of their population employed in tech, though their population is not experiencing significant increases. Areas with significant population growth that make the top 15 metropolitan areas for tech jobs include Austin, Texas, the “Research Triangle” of Raleigh, North Carolina, Huntsville, Alabama and Provo, Utah.
It is likely that technology careers will continue to grow in the coming years, and it will be interesting to see where those jobs land.
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