Austin tech salaries are on the climb. You're not likely to find the big paychecks you'd find in Silicon Valley. But, when cost of living is taken into consideration, Austin offers the best standard of living for tech workers, according to a new report by the career site Hired.
"Once again, Austin tops the list at an adjusted salary of $202,000, meaning Austin tech workers would need an $84K raise to maintain their current standard of living in San Francisco," the "State of Salaries" report says.
Since last year's report, Austin tech worker salaries have climbed 7 percent, reaching an average of $118,000. That's more growth than the area saw in 2016 -- and it's the biggest increase of any of the cities analyzed by Hired.
The report defines tech workers as software engineers, designers, product managers and data analysts. The company gathered responses from more than 700 tech workers in 13 cities who use its platform to generate this report, along with other proprietary data sources.
Austin shines in several sections of the report.
Tech workers ranked Austin as the second most attractive city to relocate to -- just behind Seattle and ahead of Denver, Chicago and Atlanta.
"We’ve all heard the stories about software engineers sacrificing salary for equity because they’re willing to take a bet on a startup that has the potential to grow," the report said. "But our data shows that’s not necessarily the case: less than 20 percent of the tech workers we surveyed have accepted more equity for lower pay."
Hired's data also provides a few other noteworthy insights. For example, it shows white tech workers ask for more money -- and get more money -- than their peers who are black or Hispanic.
"...the average white candidate in the US asks for a preferred salary of $130,000 and ultimately receives an average offer of $136,000," the report says. "Black and Hispanic candidates on the platform set their preferred salaries lowest ($124,000), but black candidates ultimately receive the lowest average salaries ($130,000)."
There's also data on how much time tech workers spend on the clock.
For example, 16 percent of those surveyed took fewer than five days of vacation last year. Ouch. Meanwhile, 13 percent took more than 20 days off.
When it comes to hours worked, half of those surveyed said they work 41-50 hours a week. Another 29 percent said they work less than 40. And 9 percent work 61-plus hours a week.
