DC has the most tech job openings: report

D.C. has the most tech job openings of 20 major U.S. cities, global industry association CompTIA reported in its second annual Tech Town Index.

The 2nd annual CompTIA Tech Town Index is here! Find out which cities made our top 20 list of the best places for IT pros to live and work in the US. Download the report. https://t.co/tgjKiUs3Ty pic.twitter.com/sDhZjhjTMn

— CompTIA (@CompTIA) December 3, 2019

The index analyzes tech hiring, projected job growth, salaries and cost of living for metropolitan areas in the U.S. This analysis results in the ranking of the top 20 cities “for IT pros to live and work.”

Specifically for the category of number of open IT positions, D.C. came in first with nearly 192,000 tech jobs posted between August 2018 and July 2019, CompTIA reports; as it did last year, D.C. came in at #11 on the list overall. Nearby Baltimore fell to #20 on the list, after landing the #16 spot last year.

The 2019 top tech town overall is Austin, with a projected 16% job growth rate over the next five years. The Austin Chamber of Commerce reported that 46 tech company relocated to Austin in 2018.

To determine this and last year’s rankings, CompTIA analyzed 20 metropolitan area with populations over 250,000 and a demand for tech workers. The D.C. ranking also includes tech activity in Arlington and Alexandria, Virginia. As Amazon moves into Northern Virginia, we might expect to see D.C. climb higher on this list next year.

Here are some other stats CompTIA gathered about the nation’s capital:

• 191,905 tech jobs were posted in D.C. over a 12-month period.
• 22,000 of those job postings were for software development engineers, systems engineers and Java developers.
• The median salary for IT pros in D.C. is $109,019.
• The number of IT jobs in D.C. is expected to grow 4% over the next five years.
• D.C. cost of living is 16.7% higher than the national average.
• General Dynamics, Booz Allen Hamilton, SAIC, Mantech International and Capital One are among the companies most looking to hire tech talent in the region.