Madison's profile as an emerging tech hub continues to rise as another study ranks the Wisconsin city as one of the best places for a career in tech.
Madison ranked No. 14 in a list of America's top 20 tech towns, according to a study released Tuesday by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA). The study took into account tech salaries, job availability, job growth and cost of living when compiling its rankings.
The state of North Carolina dominated the list with three cities in the top 20: Charlotte (1), Raleigh (2) and Durham-Chapel Hill (15).
CompTIA's report left off several cities you typically find in rankings of major tech hubs, such as LA, New York, Chicago and Minneapolis, while smaller metros like Des Moines, Lansing, Colorado Springs and Huntsville, Alabama cracked the list.
"Many cities often thought of as college towns made the list, demonstrating that an abundance of well-educated talent has helped cities such as Boulder, Madison and Lansing blossom into full-on innovation hubs," CompTIA said in its report.
CompTIA said it published its report to help IT workers make decisions about where to live and work based on opportunity and opportunity costs. Specifically, the organization looked at job posting data over a 12-month period from August 2017 to July 2018, taking into account cost of living, number of open IT positions, and projected job growth over the next 12 months and the next 5 years.
The new report is the second national study published this month that shines a favorable light on Madison's tech scene. A report from the Center for American Entrepreneurship found that Madison ranks 14th in the world and 12th in the U.S. when it comes to venture capital deals per capita. Madison was also recently named by CBRE as the No. 1 city for tech talent growth.
“As technology permeates every corner of our personal and professional lives, employment opportunities are expanding across the nation and fueling job growth in regions not traditionally thought of as tech hubs,” Nancy Hammervik, CompTIA's executive vice president of Industry Relations, said in a statement. “The geographic diversity of the index is something we’re very excited to see and demonstrates the positive impact the technology industry is having on regional economies.”
You can read the full report here.
