Report: Boston is the Third-Fastest Growing Tech Hub

Although the Bay Area retains a tight grip on jobs in the tech industry, hubs in other major American cities—especially Boston—are on the rise, according to a new report from Indeed Hiring Labs.

In Boston, the share of tech jobs as a proportion of all job listings is steadily increasing. The fraction of national tech jobs rose 6 percent in Boston between 2017 and 2018, making Beantown the third-most rapidly growing tech hub behind San Jose and Austin. Jed Kolko, chief economist at Indeed Hiring Labs and the report’s author, noted that this growth occurred despite the area’s high cost of living, a common theme across all the hubs analyzed.

Image courtesy Indeed

In Boston, the majority of local tech jobs are in tech industry firms, rather than in “hot” jobs (as denoted by Indeed) or in governments. Fully 42 percent of the metro’s tech jobs were in tech industry firms.

Indeed Hiring Labs also analyzed job clusters based on listings’ job titles. Boston had high concentrations of web content specialists, robotics engineers, and directors of analytics, offering a window into the local innovation scene’s specializations.

Image courtesy Indeed

Among the eight hubs Indeed analyzed, Boston’s mix of jobs was most similar to those in Austin and San Francisco.

“For some in tech, the Bay Area remains the only place to be—but there are plenty of tech centers elsewhere for those who want someplace different,” Kolko wrote.