Milwaukee slid down a ranking of 50 markets for tech talent in the U.S. and Canada, after showing improvement in 2022.
The Milwaukee market ranked No. 48 from a list of 50 of the markets in CBRE Group Inc.'s latest report, which it has produced for over a decade. The rankings take into account 13 metrics like labor costs, rent and the concentration of tech talent in a given market.
Milwaukee ranked 45th last year, after landing at 49th in 2021.
The top five markets were the same as 2022: San Francisco Bay area; Seattle; New York metro; Washington, D.C.; and Toronto. California's Inland Empire ranked No. 50, and Madison came in at No. 25.
According to the report, even small markets are liable to see expansive growth. Markets that saw the highest tech job growth rates include Vancouver, Calgary and Madison.
"As companies across all industries expand their technology usage, there is high demand for tech talent in both large and small markets," the report read.
Of the 50 markets, 18 were categorized as "small" and the other 32 were categorized as "large." Both Madison and Milwaukee are in the small category.
Milwaukee employs 35,260 tech workers and saw a 14% increase between 2017 and 2022, adding 4,410 tech jobs. In comparison, Madison currently employs 23,530 tech employees, having added 7,330 jobs, a 45% change, within the same time frame.
The concentration of tech talent within the tech industry was also an important factor for ranking the top markets. According to CBRE, technical skills can transfer across industries but specific industry know-how can bolster innovation.
In the Bay Area, the top-ranking market, 66% of tech employees work within the tech industry. In Milwaukee, this number is 29.9%, and in Madison, it's 56.6%.
Tech employers also pay higher wages. The annual average wage throughout the U.S. within the tech industry is $102,854. In the Bay Area, the average yearly wage within the industry is $185,425. Madison's average is over $97,000 while Milwaukee's is over $92,000.
The report's findings are situated within a context of flux for the tech industry. Though overall tech talent employment grew by 11% from 2020 to 2022, in the second-half of 2022, the tech employers started to lay off employees. Of these layoffs, a quarter of them were actual tech talent. Postings for tech talent declined to 450,000 in the beginning of 2023 from 900,000 in mid-2022.
CBRE employs over 115,000 professionals in 100 countries and leads the world in commercial real estate services and investment.
