By the Numbers: The Highest-Paying States For Tech Professionals

Nerval's Lobster writes The average technology professional made $89,450 in 2014, according to Dice's latest salary survey. When it comes to salaries, however, not all states and cities are created equal. Those tech pros living and working in Silicon Valley are the highest-paid in the country, with an average annual salary of $112,610—but that salary grew only 4 percent year-over-year, lagging behind cities such as Portland and Seattle. Dice has built an interactive map that shows where people are making the most (and least). As you click around, note how salary growth is particularly strong in parts of the West, the Northeast, and the South, while remaining stagnant (and even regressing) in some middle states. If anything, the map reinforces what many tech pros have known for years: that more cities and regions are becoming hubs of innovation.

Comments

Flash Map?

[catsRus]

How 2005, guess I dont need to see it anyway.

Salary versus cost of living in each city

[petark]

Salary means nothing unless you can compare it to the cost of living in each city. I would suggest a high wage in Silicon Valley is actually lower than many other areas due the the high cost of rent and real estate.

Re:Salary versus cost of living in each city

[Anonymous Coward]

Salary means nothing unless you can compare it to the cost of living in each city. I would suggest a high wage in Silicon Valley is actually lower than many other areas due the the high cost of rent and real estate.

If I participated in the Mod system you would get an +1 insightful.

I would say the real metric is salary/cost of living * some base number like national average cost of living.

So Dallas TX has an average Salary of 91,674 compared to Los Angeles 95,345, however the cost of living for Dallas TX is 73.2% that of Los Angeles (according to http://money.cnn.com/calculator/pf/cost-of-living/ ) so that is the equivalent of 125,268 in LA. Taking what would prima facia be a 3.5k raise is really a 24% (21k) pay decrease.

Plus, I would rather live in Dallas than on the Left Coast.

Re:Salary versus cost of living in each city

[AthanasiusKircher]

This can be beneficial, unless house prices are as inflated as they are now. We're at the point where you'd have to rent for over 30 years now to break even.

I'd really be interested in seeing where that's true. The average break-even point for renting vs. owning is probably 5-7 years in most areas. Some areas it may be as little as 2-3 (if rents are really high), other places it may be as much as 10 years or a little more (if rents are really low, but prices are high).

Rental markets generally adjust to housing prices over time, so it's unlikely that you could have a long-term sustainable market where you'd need to take a lot more than 10 years to break even unless it was somewhere where no one EVER sells real estate. (Such things do exist, such as in old Italian cities like Rome, where it's next to impossible to buy anything, since properties have been in the same family for centuries... but it's extremely rare in the U.S.)

And even if housing prices are inflated, interest rates are still quite low now (but may start rising). Which means that you may still be able to get an interest rate that roughly tracks inflation over the long term. Effectively, that means you're not really "paying interest" but getting a "zero interest" loan on a huge sum of money for 30 years (since you get to pay later in constant payments, which will be cheaper as inflation makes the dollars worth less). Rents, on the other hand, will rise with inflation.

Take this into account, and I sincerely doubt you'll find many places where renting makes sense for much more than 10 years.

hint "Cost of Living"

[Anonymous Coward]

I went from $107K just outside Los Angeles to $124K in silicon valley and lost in the deal

Re:hint "Cost of Living"

[HornWumpus]

You got the fuck out of LA didn't you?

Wouldn't a sorted table have been more useful ?

[Crashmarik]

I mean really that thing doesn't present information so much as hide it.

Yep.

[Anonymous Coward]

$80K here in Metro Atlanta is like $250K out there - and that's not even including lifestyle.

Meaning, commute times, being able to own a house, health club member ship to swim and play tennis, free time (Those SV jobs seem to want you there 24/7.) and a bunch of other things.

After looking at rents and whatnot, for me to do a one to one move, I would demand no less than $400K/year, - NO stock options. And that's at an established company like Google.

Those flaky startups that will be out of business in 6 months? NFW! Been there done that, got ripped off.

And those people wonder why they can't find any qualified people. Geeze bozos! It's because the word is out that you pay shit.

Flash?

[wjcofkc]

No Dice...

Minor rant aside, where I live in the mid-west we are rich with tech companies but the cost of living here is oh so very cozy that ~$70,000 here probably equates to ~$140,000 in Silicon Valley and other parts of the country where the cost of living is high.

Re:Flash?

[wjcofkc]

Wow! Talk about ignorance. Kansas City is about as diverse as a place gets in this country, which is to say very much so. I don't know where you get your information, but if I am to follow your condescending, ill-logic then I may as well assume that everyone where you live is arrogant, self-righteous, and wholly ignorant of this nations cultural map outside of the tiny little piece you have clearly walled yourself into.

If you spent one day in this town you would apologize for your ignorant comment.

Re:Flash?

[wjcofkc]

I just figured out what you mean. You think I live in the state of Kansas, don't you? This really shows how geo and demographically challenged you are. Kansas City proper is on the Missouri side which is dominantly liberal. When you cross over to the Kansas side, you have: KCK, Overland Park, and Lenexa which forms the tech hub of the Midwest. Altogether, the Missouri side and Kansas side are referred to as the "Greater Metropolitan Area". As a consequence, the area of Kansas that borders Kansas City Missouri is utterly liberal. Past all that, do you not have any border states who's values you take up issue with? Step outside of your little bubble and take a look at the entire country.Things are not so cut and dry. You have no idea what you are talking about. If you really think so much of this nation is a world of shit, perhaps you should stop hiding yourself away and get out there and fight for what you think is right.

Re:Flash?

[wjcofkc]

I completely understand that stereotype. However, you would be surprised. The tech industry thrives here. There are always plenty of tech jobs to go around and even minor ones tend to pay okay. People don't realize how many companies are headquartered here to take advantage of the talent. We may not have Google or Apple, but anyone working in IT anywhere would find themselves at home here.

Got a car, since the cost of living is lower here

[Anonymous Coward]

Got a car, since the cost of living is lower here. Actually, a few vehicles (car, truck, boat). Don't need a bike anymore. I've bicycled for recreation all around the USA. Road across Nebraska a few times - have done many MS-150s in Texas, Georgia, NC. Cost of living matters.

Also have a 3600 sqft McMansion on a small 1 acre estate - thanks to a lower cost of living here.

Don't have many crazies living nearby either.

I can surf and ski in the same day too. That is hardly a reason to live somewhere with 30% higher cost of living for the same salary.

My $130K/yr in Atlanta goes a long way.

Fortunately, I can visit Cali for a day or so to help me remember why I never want to live there. Don't get me wrong, it is a nice place to visit, sorta like Omaha, but I don't want to live there anymore.
I have friends who lived/worked in SF for a few years. They didn't like it and moved back to Houston, Tx. I lived in Houston for 8 yrs and thought it was an armpit. To me, it was. I didn't enjoy the weather, but many folks do. I did like the people in Houston. I like most people around the world, provided they aren't small-minded.

Happy that you like it in Cali. Finding happines in our lives is important. Just because it isn't right for me, doesn't mean it isn't right for everyone. Plus if everyone moved to where I lived, traffic would get worse. Don't need that.

You do get something from high COL

[ranton]

I don't know about SV, but I live in the northwest suburbs of Chicago and have a significantly higher cost of living than most of northern Illinois. For instance my parents live an hour southwest of Chicago and have a 50% larger house for 75% of the cost.

But I am not just paying the extra money to be closer to higher paying jobs. I get better schools, better restaurants, better entertainment options, and of course better career options. I also live next to more affluent neighbors, which means my daughter will have more affluent friends, have better internship opportunities, etc. That makes a big difference. My high school techie friends from the same small farm town my parents still live in mostly have jobs as satellite dish repair men or something similar. My wife's high school techie friends from the northwest suburbs build robots for Microsoft Research or other similar jobs. Part of my high cost of living is paying so my daughter has the same head start in the "who you know" category that my wife did.

When you look at "self-made" millionaires and other outstanding success stories, you will almost always notice they came from highly affluent upper middle class families in areas that would give them more opportunities than your average person. The creators of the next Microsoft, Facebook, etc. are mostly likely already born in a place like New York City, Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, Denver, etc, not the rural Midwest. And in a similar fashion, the next generation of C-level executives, big shot lawyers, etc. are probably also going to be mostly from these high COL areas.

Paying for that high COL in part helps increase the chance that your next generation has a chance of sitting at that table. And even if my children are not that ambitious, at least I enjoyed better food options and a better theater scene for my money.