South Florida technology workers, on average, earn significantly more money than their non-tech counterparts.
That isn't an anomaly: U.S. tech employees tend to have higher salaries than employees in other industries, regardless of location, according to a report from trade association CompTIA. The analysis found that the median wage for tech workers in the Miami metro area was $79,429, 101% higher than the region's overall median wage.
However, tech workers in Miami earn less than industry employees in other parts of the state.
The data is from 2021, the most recent available. But the hot talent market of the past two years likely took the median wage even higher, with tech industry workers seeing some of the most substantial gains, according to recruiters.
A closer look at South Florida
While salaries are higher, tech is a minor part of South Florida's overall economy. According to the report, tech workers make up about 4.1% of the metro area's workforce and had a $26.4 billion economic impact. There were 10,040 tech businesses and 130,516 employees across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.
Software programmer is the leading tech occupation, with 27,816 employees. IT support specialists (15,378), network engineers (10,585) and cybersecurity engineers (8,183) followed.
The data indicates women are underrepresented in the local tech economy. Although women make up 48% of South Florida's overall workforce, they only account for 26% of its tech workers.
However, the region was among the top U.S. metros for racial and ethnic diversity: 27% of local tech employees are from a Hispanic background and 11% are Black. In comparison, those groups account for 37% and 17% of the region's total workforce.
Miami-area tech workers earn less than their counterparts in other parts of Florida: The median wage for tech employees in Orlando was $87,114, while Tampa workers earned a median salary of $83,468.
Top states for tech salaries
Florida ranked in the middle for wages, with a $81,533 median salary for tech workers – 113% higher than the state's median salary.
Tech workers in Washington state have the highest median wage in the country, at nearly $130,000, according to CompTIA's data.
Wages in the Pacific Northwest state outpaced median pay in Washington, D.C., California, New Jersey and Massachusetts, the next four highest for tech wages.
The lowest-paying states for tech workers are South Dakota, Mississippi, Wyoming, Louisiana and West Virginia, which all have a median tech wage of less than $70,000.
Those wages are, however, significantly more than each state's median wage for all workers. In Mississippi, the $66,901 tech wage is more than 100% higher than the state's overall median wage.
Top cities for tech
At a time when the tech sector is in flux, CompTIA's analysis also shows which cities could be most vulnerable to the industry's challenges.
Specifically, the data showed the cities where tech represents the largest portions of the local economy.
Not surprisingly, San Jose and San Francisco are in the top three, along with Seattle, home to tech giants like Amazon and Microsoft.
The cities where tech represents the largest portion of the local economy are: San Jose, California (57.1%); Seattle (28.9%); San Francisco (26.8%); Austin, Texas (23.8%); and Raleigh, North Carolina (16.5%).
Emerging tech hubs are cutting into the dominance of longtime tech centers like Silicon Valley, and it shows in both salary trends and deal flow.
Phoenix (26% increase) and Tampa (19% increase) led the way for tech salary growth in a recent analysis by Dice, while Denver was one of the few exceptions to a dip in VC activity.
In fact, the Bay Area's share of overall U.S. venture capital deals has fallen below 20% for three consecutive quarters — the lowest VC data firm PitchBook has ever recorded.
After tallying about 25% of all VC deals in 2014, the Bay Area's share of deals was just 18% last quarter.
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