Philly gained 2,710 tech jobs and rose to #22 on CBRE’s 2022 talent report

In a challenging economic year, Philly tech employment has held strong in its slow-and-steady growth trajectory.

The national real estate services firm released its latest Scoring Tech Talent Report on Thursday, with Philadelphia ranking #22 on the list of cities in the United States and Canada with the most tech talent growth for 2022. This spot is four up from last year, when Philly ranked #26, and a return to its 2020 position.

Some key takeaways from the report:

• Philly counts 115,450 tech jobs, accounting for 4.3% of the local workforce — and this figure includes about 60,00 software developers and programmers
• The city gained 2,710 tech talent jobs in 2021
• The average tech salary is $100,551, with devs averaging $105,069, and computer and information systems managers averaging $156,960
• The city has seen a 7% increase in local tech jobs since 2016
• 6,050 people earned tech degrees in the Philadelphia area, including computer engineering, math/statistics and other tech engineering

These figures are close to those shared in an April CompTIA report measuring tech jobs growth in the US, which also showed that the Philly region had grown and was poised to grow (modestly) in 2022. They contrast with a report by the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, which is May said Philly’s tech employment actually declined in 2021 — as did that of most other major US metros. It’s mostly a difference in methodology, the Economy League’s research director told us then, as CompTIA (and likely, CBRE) draws a wider net for tech jobs than the local organization does.

For CBRE, Philly was among the biggest “gainers” this year. Three other cities climbed four spots in the annual report, including Dallas/Fort Worth, South Florida and Milwaukee.

Philly owes its ranking to the size of the city’s tech talent pool, tech talent employment growth, and innovation infrastructure at regional universities, CBRE EVP Scott Miller said. (That eds and meds rep comes in handy.)

“Since the onset of the pandemic, talent has been at the heart of business leaders’ decision making, specifically surrounding how to retain, attract and develop talent in a hybrid environment,” Miller said in a statement. “This report demonstrates how Philadelphia is striking the right balance for employees. Not only is the city surrounded by top-notch education options, but the cost of living and commercial rents remain low when compared to competing larger metros.”

Overall, the country counts more than 5.5 million tech jobs, and added a net 136,000 jobs last year.