SEATTLE — While Seattle remains the fastest-growing U.S. market for young tech talent, the city isn’t drawing experienced tech workers as well as cheaper locales in the Sun Belt.
Among all cities nationwide, Seattle is especially popular with recent tech grads with less than three years of experience, according to a recently released report on talent migration by CBRE Americas Consulting, a commercial real estate services and investment firm.
Seattle has nearly 290,000 tech workers, ranking in the top 10 metros for tech employment, just behind San Francisco which has more than 350,000 tech workers. The industry accounts for nearly 30% of the Seattle-area economy, and despite recent tech layoffs hitting industry giants like Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Meta, Seattle was one of the top three cities for tech job growth in 2022, surpassing San Francisco, according to a recently released report by CompTIA, one of the IT industry’s top trade associations.
The number of young tech professionals in Seattle jumped 15.2%, the highest increase among all markets in the U.S. between February 2022 and February 2023, according to the CBRE report. Austin, Texas; San Francisco; Indianapolis; and Dallas-Fort Worth followed thereafter.
“This is likely being driven by the variety of early career options by companies in Seattle, plus its pull as a vibrant urban center with a high quality of life that remains attractive for early career professionals,” said Chris Volney, managing director of CBRE.
The patterns differ slightly for tech talent with 11 years or more of work experience, CBRE’s analysis found. Experienced tech professionals were overall less likely to move than their younger counterparts. When they did, they were more likely to move to lower-cost Sun Belt cities in Texas, Florida or North Carolina.
So while Austin and Dallas-Fort Worth in Texas remained popular for established tech professionals, Seattle did not make the top five. Other Sun Belt cities like Tampa, Fla.; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; and Jacksonville, Fla., reported greater gains.
In fact, Austin’s ability to attract talent across experience levels puts it in the overall top spot for growing tech job markets. Seattle still emerged as the second fastest growing market.
That’s because Seattle still saw an increase of 0.3% for the mid-to-late career cohort of tech talent, explained Volney.
“Most other major coastal markets saw a net decrease in this more experienced talent pool, so Seattle still stood out versus its peers like the Bay Area, New York, Boston, etc.,” he said by email.
In the 12 months to February, San Francisco saw a slight decrease, 0.4%, in its more experienced tech talent pool, according to CBRE. Only New York and Chicago reported a larger loss of mid-to-late career tech talent, of 0.6% and 0.8%, respectively.
Of course, even at Austin’s current growth rate, it would take more than 80 years for that city’s tech talent pool to reach the size of San Francisco’s, the report’s authors said. Despite the pandemic-driven shifts in migration, most big cities still maintain an undeniable talent-pool size advantage.
Economic and lifestyle considerations largely drive talent migration patterns, which play out differently based on how long a person has been in the workforce, authors of the CBRE report said.
For instance, younger professionals are more likely to move to expensive, big or booming cities for greater job prospects, networking opportunities and cultural experiences. Experienced professionals are more likely to prioritize buying a house with adequate space to raise a family.
“Smaller Sun Belt markets offer a lower cost of living and a slower-paced atmosphere, while offering job opportunities suitable for talent with established careers,” the authors said.
