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Top Metro Areas and Colleges for Computer and Information Science Graduates in the United States

by King White, on Jul 25, 2017 4:32:54 PM

The demand for tech talent is greater than ever as companies across the world struggle to find IT workers for their software development, software engineering, application development, technical support, shared service centers and other related technology operations. As discussed in my blog about the recent whitepaper released — U.S. Tech City Ranking Report — Site Selection Group identifies top metro areas for tech talent. One of the primary site selection variables utilized to rank those metro areas was college graduates in programs that produce the tech skills most companies are seeking.  This blog will help you target both metro areas and colleges based on the degrees awarded in computer and information sciences during your next site selection project.

Large metro areas continue to produce the greatest amount of tech talent
Mega-metro areas such as New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington D.C. continue to dominate the top 25 list due to a combination of both large and small colleges and universities offering great undergraduate and graduate level curriculum in computer and information sciences. These large metro areas are also the most competitive hiring markets with wages much higher than the national average which often makes it challenging to attract them if a company is located in a less urbanized metro area. 

Smaller “college town” metro areas can be hidden gems for finding tech graduates
There are several hidden gems in cities such as State College, Pennsylvania; Rochester, New York; Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Buffalo, New York. These smaller geographies are incredible recruiting grounds for companies trying to attract graduates to relocate to a new location. You will also find labor cost and competition for labor to be much less than the larger metro areas. There have been many companies who have opted to locate in these smaller metro areas during the site selection process to keep their labor costs down while getting closer to the source of the talent.   

Top 25 Metro Areas for Computer & Information Science Graduates

Metro Area State Annual Bachelor Degreesin Computer & Information Sciences Annual Graduate Degrees in Computer &
Information Sciences
Combined Annual Total
New York-Newark-Jersey City NY-NJ-PA 2,896 2,777 5,673
Boston-Cambridge-Newton MA-NH 1,508 1,336 2,844
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin IL-IN-WI 1,058 1,757 2,815
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim CA 1,340 1,356 2,696
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria DC-VA-WV 1,045 1,109 2,154
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington TX 616 1,305 1,921
Pittsburgh PA 593 1,266 1,859
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington PA-NJ-DE-MD 1,015 733 1,748
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell GA 1,126 579 1,705
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson MD 799 745 1,544
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue WA 764 436 1,200
San Diego-Carlsbad CA 656 354 1,010
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-W. Palm Beach FL 618 383 1,001
Salt Lake City UT 751 194 945
Austin-Round Rock TX 614 228 842
Denver-Aurora-Lakewood CO 433 346 779
State College PA 665 110 775
Rochester NY 500 272 772
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land TX 368 401 769
San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward CA 444 271 715
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington MN-WI 491 197 688
Ann Arbor MI 449 230 679
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale AZ 360 300 660
Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls NY 194 431 625
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara CA 347 264 611

There are less tech graduates than you think coming out of colleges

People often think there are thousands of IT graduates coming out of the big universities. This is a bit of a misperception which helps you to understand why hiring these graduates is so competitive. A great example is Pennsylvania State University which has the greatest number of undergraduate degrees in computer and information sciences in the U.S. It produces around 600 degreed IT students per year, which doesn’t really sound like a lot when you consider the amount of demand in the workforce. The following lists provide a ranking of the top colleges for bachelor and graduate degrees awarded in computer and information sciences to help companies target these graduates.

Top 25 Colleges for Information Technology & Computer Science Bachelor Degrees

College Location Annual Bachelor Degrees in
Computer & Information Sciences
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus University Park, PA 605
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI 408
Indiana University-Bloomington Bloomington, IN 397
Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester, NY 386
The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX 376
University of Maryland-College Park College Park, MD 371
George Mason University Fairfax, VA 370
University of Maryland-Baltimore County Baltimore, MD 369
Rutgers University-New Brunswick New Brunswick, NJ 349
Kennesaw State University Kennesaw, GA 345
Purdue University-Main Campus West Lafayette, IN 331
University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA 330
Arizona State University-Tempe Tempe, AZ 328
Georgia State University Atlanta, GA 312
University of Central Florida Orlando, FL 308
University of California-San Diego La Jolla, CA 304
Florida State University Tallahassee, FL 294
Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus Atlanta, GA 288
University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA 286
University of California-Irvine Irvine, CA 284
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL 275
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN 275
University of California-Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, CA 273
University of Massachusetts-Lowell Lowell, MA 268
The University of Texas at Dallas Richardson, TX 264

Top 25 Colleges for Information Technology & Computer Science Graduate Degrees

College Location Annual Graduate Degrees in
Computer & Information Sciences
Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA 995
The University of Texas at Dallas Richardson, TX 760
New York University New York, NY 751
University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA 663
DePaul University Chicago, IL 480
University at Buffalo Buffalo, NY 431
North Carolina State University at Raleigh Raleigh, NC 393
University of Illinois at Springfield Springfield, IL 384
Boston University Boston, MA 344
Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, IL 327
Northeastern University Boston, MA 323
Stevens Institute of Technology Hoboken, NJ 323
University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA 319
George Mason University Fairfax, VA 306
New Jersey Institute of Technology Newark, NJ 305
Arizona State University-Tempe Tempe, AZ 287
Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD 287
University of Florida Gainesville, FL 278
George Washington University Washington, DC 278
Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY 276
Syracuse University Syracuse, NY 263
Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus Atlanta, GA 258
Texas A&M University-Kingsville Kingsville, TX 256
Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester, NY 251

Conclusions
The need for tech workers is here to stay. These workers are the key to driving innovation across all industries. The U.S. has some of the best colleges in the world so understanding where to find this talent can be critical as you seek to expand your company in a strategic location. For additional research on this topic, you can download our latest whitepaper on U.S. Tech City Ranking Report  or contact one of Site Selection Group’s experts at www.siteselectiongroup.com.

Download our US Tech City Ranking Report

Topics:Location Advisory

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