Migration of Tech Workers to Alternative Metro Areas Alters Site Selection Strategies
by King White, on Apr 19, 2022 10:14:10 AM
The tech job market continues to be one of the fastest-growing job creators in the U.S. economy. Migration away from the traditional high-cost tech hubs was fueled by the transition to work-from-home during the COVID-19 pandemic. The battle for tech talent has intensified with over 3.2 million tech job postings in 2021 for positions such as software developers. To help you identify some emerging locations for tech workers, Site Selection Group has analyzed job posting data to help you formulate your site selection strategy.
California tech hubs hit the hardest
Corporate relocation projects and work-from-home brain drain from California continue to push tech jobs out of the state to lower cost-of-living geographies. San Jose and San Diego metro areas were hit the hardest. San Jose went from 146,854 tech job postings to less than 100,000. Similarly, San Diego was down 31.7%, San Francisco was down 27.7% and Los Angeles was down 26.4%.
Emerging metro areas to keep an eye on
Unlike California’s predicament, there are a lot of metro areas that have seen a spike in tech job postings. Metro areas like Richmond, Virginia; Birmingham, Alabama; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Tucson, Arizona; Providence, Rhode Island; and Hartford, Connecticut; saw double-digit percentage increases in tech job posting over the last couple of years. If you are looking for an emerging market to expand with less competition and lower labor costs, then some of these cities could be worth evaluating during the site selection process.
Metro areas with the greatest decrease in tech job postings
The most interesting data involve the metro areas that had the biggest decreases. To identify these cities, Site Selection Group compared tech job postings between 2019 and 2021 in the largest metro areas with over 1 million population.
| Metro Area | State | Unique Postings from Jan 2019 - Dec 2019 | Unique Postings from Jan 2020 - Dec 2020 | Unique Postings from Jan 2021 - Dec 2021 | % Change |
| Columbus | OH | 49,473 | 33,276 | 32,618 | -34.10% |
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara | CA | 146,854 | 97,684 | 97,347 | -33.70% |
| Jacksonville | FL | 26,281 | 17,955 | 17,939 | -31.70% |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad | CA | 66,468 | 47,918 | 46,778 | -29.60% |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley | CA | 168,809 | 122,098 | 122,060 | -27.70% |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim | CA | 185,612 | 130,105 | 136,557 | -26.40% |
| Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News | VA-NC | 23,487 | 20,530 | 17,516 | -25.40% |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario | CA | 13,867 | 9,760 | 10,685 | -22.90% |
| Cleveland-Elyria | OH | 21,775 | 15,396 | 17,058 | -21.70% |
| Cincinnati | OH-KY-IN | 27,004 | 18,745 | 21,957 | -18.70% |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City | NY-NJ-PA | 246,989 | 194,031 | 204,131 | -17.40% |
| Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom | CA | 25,197 | 20,523 | 20,884 | -17.10% |
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria | DC-VA-MD-WV | 219,575 | 210,242 | 183,838 | -16.30% |
| Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia | NC-SC | 63,311 | 61,509 | 53,813 | -15.00% |
| Baltimore-Columbia-Towson | MD | 54,785 | 55,767 | 46,798 | -14.60% |
Source: EMSI
Metro areas with the greatest increase in tech job postings
The metro areas with the greatest increase in tech job postings during the same time include the usual suspects like Salt Lake City; Austin, Texas; Denver; Phoenix; and Dallas. However, there are a few outliers like those mentioned above to keep an eye on. The following 15 metro areas had the greatest increase in tech job postings.
| Metro Area | State | Unique Postings from Jan 2019 - Dec 2019 | Unique Postings from Jan 2020 - Dec 2020 | Unique Postings from Jan 2021 - Dec 2021 | % Change |
| Salt Lake City | UT | 14,844 | 14,471 | 22,603 | 52.30% |
| Providence-Warwick | RI-MA | 9,567 | 11,501 | 12,763 | 33.40% |
| Birmingham-Hoover | AL | 6,469 | 5,230 | 8,607 | 33.00% |
| Hartford-East Hartford-Middletown | CT | 17,330 | 17,592 | 22,370 | 29.10% |
| Richmond | VA | 18,267 | 22,943 | 22,330 | 22.20% |
| Tucson | AZ | 6,260 | 5,459 | 7,604 | 21.50% |
| Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown | TX | 55,432 | 57,759 | 66,010 | 19.10% |
| Grand Rapids-Kentwood | MI | 6,483 | 5,049 | 7,303 | 12.60% |
| Denver-Aurora-Lakewood | CO | 68,099 | 67,464 | 76,381 | 12.20% |
| Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler | AZ | 67,502 | 70,079 | 74,376 | 10.20% |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | TX | 150,846 | 137,789 | 163,003 | 8.10% |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue | WA | 82,463 | 75,645 | 88,395 | 7.20% |
| Kansas City | MO-KS | 23,973 | 19,968 | 25,344 | 5.70% |
| Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | IL-IN-WI | 117,836 | 99,400 | 122,263 | 3.80% |
| Louisville/Jefferson County | KY-IN | 11,560 | 11,655 | 11,898 | 2.90% |
Source: EMSI
Conclusions
The labor market is extremely tight with unemployment dipping to 3.6% in March. As a result, companies have utilized the work-from-home recruitment model to find people virtually anywhere. Hopefully, the data outlined here will help you identify potential labor markets to consider during your next site selection project or recruitment endeavor.
