This post profiles America’s largest job markets for Software Developers (Standard Occupation Code: 15-1252). It is part of a series that profiles the major job markets for content creation-related careers. Click here for an overview of my study- and career-planning advice for students interested in content creation. The goal of this particular series is to help inform students incorporate considerations of local jobs markets when crafting study and career plans. It can be of great benefit to study and live in areas in which there is a market for one’s chosen field.
The table below lists America’s 25 largest metro area job markets for Software Developers. It provides information on the total number of people in that occupation, the mean annual wage, the number of jobs per 1000, and the ‘location quotient’. The location quotient is the ratio of the percentage of jobs in that occupation locally to the percentage nationally. A score above one denotes that more jobs in that occupation are present in the local area compared to the national average, while a score below one indicates fewer jobs in the local area relative to the national average. Click here for more details on the data and methods employed to produce this information
| Rank | Metro Area | Total Employment | Jobs per 1k | Location Quotient |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA | 93100 | 10.73 | 1.11 |
| 2 | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | 73860 | 38.52 | 3.98 |
| 3 | San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | 67780 | 63.43 | 6.55 |
| 4 | San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA | 64460 | 28.75 | 2.97 |
| 5 | Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | 63360 | 21.61 | 2.23 |
| 6 | Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, MA-NH | 55690 | 21.54 | 2.22 |
| 7 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | 49020 | 8.57 | 0.89 |
| 8 | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | 42880 | 11.95 | 1.23 |
| 9 | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI | 38110 | 9.00 | 0.93 |
| 10 | Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA | 36080 | 13.94 | 1.44 |
| 11 | Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI | 32480 | 17.82 | 1.84 |
| 12 | Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ | 26930 | 12.72 | 1.31 |
| 13 | Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO | 25670 | 17.52 | 1.81 |
| 14 | Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD | 25220 | 9.50 | 0.98 |
| 15 | Austin-Round Rock, TX | 21940 | 20.45 | 2.11 |
| 16 | Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI | 21740 | 12.06 | 1.25 |
| 17 | Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX | 18110 | 6.25 | 0.65 |
| 18 | Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC | 16930 | 14.00 | 1.45 |
| 19 | San Diego-Carlsbad, CA | 16510 | 11.87 | 1.23 |
| 20 | Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA | 15630 | 13.93 | 1.44 |
| 21 | Columbus, OH | 13730 | 13.43 | 1.39 |
| 22 | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL | 13680 | 5.58 | 0.58 |
| 23 | Raleigh, NC | 13110 | 20.70 | 2.14 |
| 24 | Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD | 13060 | 10.40 | 1.07 |
Observations
- Software development is among the most plentiful and best-compensated jobs profiled in this series.
- The San Francisco Bay area is the most active software development job market, followed by Seattle.
- Although New York City is a standout in computer programming job markets, its software developer market is far weaker. This is a problem, as programmers are widely expected to be displaced by software developers in the coming years.
- Other major markets include Boston and the Washington, DC.
- Other strong smaller markets include Austin and Raleigh, NC
