Updated 9:35 on 6/21/2017
PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island’s capital city is one of the nation’s its hottest destinations for tech jobs, according to a report released by job search site ZipRecruiter and featured last week in Money magazine.
Providence boasts the 18th fastest-growing tech job market in the United States, ZipRecruiter said, with a 79 percent increase in software, engineering and IT roles this year compared with 2016. Hunstville, Ala., topped the list with 309 percent growth year over year, followed by Thousand Oaks, Calif., at 200 percent and Phoenix, Ariz., at 188 percent.
“The tech industry is no longer bound to the coast,” said Cathy Barrera, ZipRecruiter’s chief economic adviser, in an interview with Money. “As a result, we’re seeing the tech industry expand out of the major metropolis areas, and into smaller regional cities that have since flown largely under the radar.”
ZipRecruiter queried a database of more than 8 million active jobs across the U.S. to compile the list of America’s best up-and-coming cities for tech. The cities selected share a flourishing market for tech jobs, a lower cost of living than tech metropolises like San Francisco and New York, and less competition from other applicants.
Tech careers in Providence pay a median salary of $55,400 for entry-level positions and $90,500 for mid-career professionals, ZipRecruiter reported – lower than salaries in other featured cities such as Seattle, Chicago and Denver but balanced by Rhode Island’s lower median rent and home prices.
In-demand jobs in the Providence tech industry include project managers, software engineers, senior net developers, business information analysts and quality engineers.
“Well-known tech hubs like San Francisco may get all the press, but if you’re looking for a job at a hot start-up be aware that there are cities all across the country where tech employment is growing faster than in Silicon Valley,” said ZipRecruiter.
In 2016, ZipRecruiter published a similar list of “next big cities for tech,” which looked at the number of tech job openings posted in major metropolitan areas rather than year-over-year job growth. Rhode Island was not featured on the 2016 list, which was headed by Washington, D.C.; Charlotte, N.C.; and Atlanta.
Boston ranked at No. 6 on last year’s ZipRecruiter list, but did not appear in the 2017 report.
Indeed.com’s August 2016 Tech Salary Report also listed Boston as the sixth best city for high-paying tech jobs, and real estate services firm CBRE declared Boston the seventh largest U.S. tech market in July 2016. Neither report named Providence.
Kaylen Auer is a reporter for PBN.
“RI 18th Hottest City for Tech Job”?????!!!!!!
PROVIDENCE – The nation’s littlest state is one of its hottest destinations for tech jobs.
This is the worst article title and worst frame of reference I have seen in a year! Very poorly done!!
Embarrassment for PBN.
First, RI is not a city. I hope you realize it is a state. Providence is a city.
Second, RI is not the “nation’s littlest state – except in terms of geograoihic size. There are seven states smaller than RI in population – the real factor in this news item.
Third, geographic size of a state is not relevant to this story. It is a rating of major CITIES.
Fourth, the story is about PROVIDENCE- not a state or RI.
Very disappointed. This entire article should be rewritten.