Metro Orlando tech workers earn more than their non-tech counterparts, according to a new report.
A new deep dive into tech salaries by tech trade association CompTIA found that the median tech wage for Orlando's tech workers was $87,114, or 132% higher than the overall median wage. The percentage difference is slightly higher than the national average — the median tech wage in the U.S. was $100,615, or 103% higher than the median national wage. In other words, metro Orlando has a stronger showing than the U.S. average.
Florida sat at the middle of the pack, with an $81,533 median salary for tech workers, which is 113% higher than the median average salary for the Sunshine State. Tech workers in Washington state have the highest median wage in the country at nearly $130,000, according to CompTIA's data.
Meanwhile, it’s not only the tech salaries that are strong. It’s tech job growth, too. From 2021 to 2022, tech jobs in the Central Florida region increased by 3.5%. The area is poised to see a 2.6% increase in tech jobs from 2022 to 2023, compared to 3% nationwide.
Tech industry leaders tie job growth to available workers. “In the fields of modeling, simulation and digital transformation, the growth in jobs will only be limited by the amount of truly qualified and trained future professionals,” said George Cheros, president and CEO of the Orlando-based National Center for Simulation.
Donnie Casey, executive director of the Manufacturers Association of Central Florida, also sees endless job growth in the future, dependent on skilled workers. "We have always had high-tech jobs in our space, but are in desperate need for more. Right now, we are sitting at a large deficit in workforce and there is a strong push for more skilled labor that includes more high-tech opportunities."
The tech industry's low diversity rate
The CompTIA study analyzed the makeup of the local and national tech workforce, showing that women and people of color are underrepresented. The Orlando tech workforce is 27% female, 16% Latino and 11% Black, compared to the region's overall workforce, which is 50% female, 26% Latino and 16% Black.
Michelle Moore, co-chair of the new Orlando chapter of Women in Tech & Entrepreneurship, said gender equity will be the result of intentional outreach.
"If we want to see these percentages change, girls would benefit from more encouragement to focus on STEM in elementary and high school and need to be made aware of organizations like Girls Who Code and Tech Sassy Girlz," she said.
"More scholarships for women in STEM at the college level also would help. Further, voluntary quotas for hiring women in STEM positions, set by company management, would move the needle, buttressed by proactive recruiting via female tech recruiters."
CompTIA used a metric called Simpson’s Diversity Index to measure overall race and ethnicity characteristics within the tech workforce. According to the report, the U.S. tech workforce recorded a Diversity Index measure of 59, roughly on par with the overall U.S. workforce measure of 57 on a 100-point scale. The District of Columbia recorded the highest tech workforce Diversity Index score at 68, followed by Texas, California and Georgia.
Top 10 U.S. cities for tech industry jobs
Orlando didn’t make the list for top 10 cities where tech represents the largest portion of the local economy. Here are the top 10, according to CompTIA:
- San Jose, California 57.1%
- Seattle 28.9%
- San Francisco 26.8%
- Austin, Texas 23.8%
- Raleigh, North Carolina 16.5%
- Boston 14.6%
- Portland, Oregon 14.4%
- Denver 13.1%
- Washington, D.C. 12.9%
- Atlanta 12.1%
Metro Orlando has 67,061 tech jobs, comprising about 4.7% of the region's total jobs. CompTIA says Orlando should be adding 1,735 tech jobs in 2023.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the largest number of jobs in metro Orlando are in the leisure and hospitality industry, followed by professional and business services, and then the trade, transportation and utilities sector.
The trajectory of the local tech industry is important to the broader economy because it can generate high-wage jobs and more high-tech work can diversify and strengthen Central Florida’s hospitality-dominated economy, making it more resilient to economic downturns and pandemics that affect travel to the region, as previously reported in OBJ’s July 2022 mid-year tech report card for the region.
"The percentage of tech jobs in Orlando will continue to grow,” said Carol Ann Logue, director of programs and operations at the University of Central Florida’s Innovation Districts & Incubation Program. “At the UCF Business Incubation Program, we've seen an increase of early-stage companies applying to join us. We've also seen a continuous increase in successful tech companies headquartered elsewhere wanting to 'land' in Orlando as part of our soft landing program. And we see a growing trend of those companies moving their corporate headquarters here after a year or two."
Top Orlando tech jobs
Whether at tech companies or in other verticals, the leading tech jobs in the region are on the development side.
Matthew Garrepy, chief digital officer at Orlando-based software company Solodev, said the data validates what he is seeing, “particularly at the top end of the hiring spectrum. Every business is digital, and they all need websites and applications to do business in 2023 and beyond.”
However, he would like to see more talent in other spheres flock to Orlando: “What we really need more of are cloud computing professionals with experience in AWS (Amazon Web Services) to enable secure and scalable solutions to meet the demands of e-commerce, metaverse, and IoT technologies,” he said.
For more tech jobs data on metro Orlando, Florida and the nation, view CompTIA’s State of the Tech Force report.
Tampa Bay Inno Reporter Lauren Coffey contributed to this report.
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