The best places for tech careers, all 50 states ranked

ORLANDO, Fla. — The 21st century can easily be called the digital age, and that means the job market is going digital, too. High-tech is in high demand, but that also leads to plenty of opportunities for the newest careers available. While California’s Silicon Valley immediately springs to mind as the place for high-paying tech jobs, a new study finds it’s not the only place in the United States to look for these opportunities.

Researchers from TorGuard conducted a study examining eight key metrics of the jobs market across America. They determined the best and worst states for workers looking for tech careers. These factors include hourly earnings, the local tech workforce, the local cost of living, and the number of business establishments, events, and job openings in each state.

At the top of the list, unsurprisingly, is the state of California. Researchers found that there is still no better place to look for a tech career, as California boasts the highest average annual salary ($142,270) and average hourly wage ($64) for tech workers in the country.

Coming in second place was the state of Virginia. While you might think larger states with giant business districts, like New York or Florida, may have more opportunities for workers, it’s actually Virginia that has the most tech job openings.

Rounding out the top five states for tech careers were Washington (3rd), Maryland (4th), and Colorado (5th). Notably, Connecticut (10th) offers the most free tech events per capita, while Washington has the highest number of tech jobs for every 1,000 jobs in the state’s workforce.

At the opposite end of the tech spectrum, the study found West Virginia would be the most difficult place to start a tech career. This is the case despite researchers finding that workers there have a very low cost of living. West Virginia ranked near the bottom of the list in terms of the number of tech businesses and tech events, as well as also offering lower salaries than most other states.

Rounding out the bottom five states for tech jobs were Mississippi (49th), Wyoming (48th), Kentucky (47th), and Louisiana (46th).

The best and worst states for tech professionals

Rank	State	Mean annual wage for tech jobs	Median hourly wage per tech jobs	No. of jobs per 1000 jobs	Total tech employees	No. of business establishments	No. of job postings per 1,000 people	Free tech events per 1,000 people	Cost of living as per tech salary	Total score
1	California	1	1	4	1	1	4	5	34	75.83
2	Virginia	6	6	2	3	17	1	26	45	66.19
3	Washington	2	2	1	2	11	14	7	46	65.74
4	Maryland	4	4	3	4	22	2	10	33	63.89
5	Colorado	7	7	5	6	16	3	9	44	58.21
6	Massachusetts	3	3	6	9	9	6	16	4	57.38
7	New Jersey	8	8	8	8	19	5	15	32	51.40
8	Texas	16	17	11	7	4	7	8	39	49.27
9	Utah	19	21	7	5	23	8	6	28	47.84
10	Connecticut	11	11	22	21	25	15	1	20	47.53
11	New York	5	5	19	15	3	34	20	22	47.37
12	Florida	21	23	21	10	2	16	3	19	45.36
13	North Carolina	12	12	9	12	6	11	19	42	44.46
14	Arizona	19	20	13	11	20	12	17	17	41.99
15	Georgia	18	19	15	14	13	13	13	41	40.51
16	Delaware	9	9	12	27	43	17	22	40	40.09
17	Oregon	13	13	18	18	14	22	23	14	39.83
18	Rhode Island	10	10	10	29	39	19	32	26	38.51
19	New Hampshire	14	14	14	22	36	23	38	13	37.81
20	Minnesota	15	15	16	13	15	24	36	38	37.68
21	Illinois	17	18	32	16	7	9	21	43	37.07
22	New Mexico	20	22	27	34	35	36	2	35	36.81
23	Michigan	29	31	24	26	5	20	14	27	34.70
24	Idaho	15	16	34	33	31	10	33	23	33.81
25	Pennsylvania	23	25	25	24	10	40	31	21	32.72
26	Kansas	27	29	20	20	32	13	42	36	32.40
27	Nebraska	33	35	17	17	37	18	27	29	32.31
28	Ohio	25	27	26	25	12	33	40	29	31.60
29	Hawaii	24	26	39	37	39	27	35	2	30.82
30	Alabama	25	27	28	30	24	21	24	37	30.75
31	Wisconsin	34	36	23	19	27	35	18	15	30.73
32	Missouri	38	41	21	23	18	26	29	25	30.42
33	Tennessee	36	39	33	29	8	41	11	24	29.74
34	Nevada	28	30	44	38	29	29	4	11	29.50
35	Vermont	22	24	29	42	42	31	42	5	28.87
36	South Carolina	31	33	31	28	21	41	25	17	28.73
37	Iowa	30	32	30	29	33	25	44	31	27.51
38	Oklahoma	40	43	36	32	32	30	12	29	26.65
39	Indiana	39	42	38	31	28	38	34	16	25.06
40	Alaska	32	34	45	46	46	32	30	3	24.58
41	South Dakota	42	46	37	35	44	28	39	9	23.64
42	Maine	45	37	35	36	38	37	37	1	23.30
43	Arkansas	43	47	40	39	34	39	46	12	21.04
44	North Dakota	41	45	41	40	45	42	41	10	20.90
45	Montana	37	40	42	43	41	47	43	6	20.42
46	Louisiana	26	28	48	45	30	44	45	30	20.20
47	Kentucky	43	48	43	41	26	45	48	8	19.12
48	Wyoming	35	38	47	48	45	46	28	18	18.26
49	Mississippi	44	49	46	44	39	43	47	7	15.20
50	West Virginia	45	44	41	47	40	48	49	1	14.75

Note: With the exception of “Total score,” all of the columns in the table above depict the relative rank of that state, where a rank of 1 represents the best conditions for that metric category.