Among North America’s top tech talent hubs, Phoenix continues to gain strength.
That’s what’s indicated by a report from real estate firm CBRE Group Inc., which found that the Phoenix metro is the No. 16 city overall for tech talent — up one spot from a year earlier.
The report, which has been released annually during the past 10 years, ranked 50 metros in the U.S. and Canada based on depth, vitality, and attractiveness to tech companies and tech professionals. The metros in the 2022 Scoring Tech Talent ranking were those that had the largest numbers of tech professionals. Labor and real estate costs were also factors. Overall, 13 metrics were analyzed.
CBRE pointed to strong tech talent job growth in the Valley, where the tech workforce grew by 18.3% — or 15,410 positions — from 2016 to 2021 to a total of 99,660. The report noted that the population of people in their 20s grew by 62,993, or 10.4%, and the population of people in their 30s grew by 64,248, or 10.7%, during the same period.
The concentration of tech workers in the Phoenix market was 4.7%, which is below the 50-market average of 5.6%.
Besides job growth, relative affordability was an important factor in Phoenix’s favor in the report. The Valley’s annual apartment rent amounted to 20% of the average tech talent wage, CBRE said, which is more affordable than 16 other cities in the rankings.
Phoenix tech talent pool continues to grow
For employers, Phoenix was the 22nd most-expensive city among the top 50, with the average one-year cost for operating a 500-employee tech company out of a 75,000-square-foot space coming in a $45.6 million.
“Despite the pandemic, the last few years have solidified the Phoenix metro area as a tech talent hub,” said Kevin Calihan with CBRE’s Tech & Media Practice in Phoenix, in a statement. “Phoenix’s tech talent pool is continuing to grow as companies are drawn to Arizona’s business-friendly climate, its ever-growing millennial population, and relatively lower cost of operating than most major markets.”
Another highlight for the Valley was its educational market that is providing an abundance of tech talent for employers looking to expand. During the past five years, 26,380 students graduated with tech degrees while just 15,410 tech jobs were added.
In another sign that there is room for expansion in the Valley, 33.7% of the tech talent workforce is working within the tech industry, the report said.
Across North America, a net 136,000 tech talent jobs were added in 2021, the report found, with job growth and tech office leasing rebounding that year after a pandemic-induced slowdown in 2020.
The top five metros for tech talent were the same between 2021 and 2022. They are: San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Toronto, Washington, D.C., and New York City.
