High salaries, low unemployment, and a lack of cheap housing and office space have driven some companies to look beyond the traditional San Francisco–San Jose corridor for talent and office space.
While other large U.S. cities have their own tech and venture capital ecosystems, unemployment and affordability are often comparable. JLL’s latest report, Cracking the Hardest Code: Where to Find Tech Talent, analyzes markets with a high concentration of in-demand, affordable tech talent and available real estate, much of which is located near research universities that can be tapped for new employees.“The top tech hubs are widely documented, and their popularity comes as little surprise. So we took a look at what’s next by focusing on the key factors shaping the new, emerging tech hot spots,” said Steffen Kammerer, senior vice president and leader of JLL’s technology group. “A ‘hidden gem’ city has a strong tech ecosystem, with a deep concentration of jobs in one or more technology professions, such as computer programmers and software developers.”
Albany: computer programmers
The capital of New York state put an early focus on creating the “Tech Valley” with support from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and State University of New York Polytechnic Institute. That focus, combined with a handful of Fortune 500 company locations, has helped the Albany metropolitan area achieve the second-highest concentration of computer programmers nationally. As of 2016, Albany is home to 5,880 computer programmers at an average salary of $76,000 per year. With an unemployment rate of 4.6 percent, it is low enough to showcase a strong economy, but higher than the national average.
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