Tampa Bay technology workers earn over $9,000 more than their non-tech counterparts, according to a new report.
While tech salaries vary widely around the nation, regardless of the location, tech workers are earning a much higher wage than their non-tech counterparts. In a new report about tech salaries, trade association CompTIA found that the median tech wage for Tampa Bay's tech workers was $83,468, 111% 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.
Deeper dive into Tampa Bay
A solid number of tech workers comprised the total workforce, with an even bigger economic impact. According to the report, 6.2% of the total workforce was tech workers, which brought a $17.6 billion impact. There were roughly 5,190 tech establishments, with more than 48,000 job postings.
Software programmer is the leading occupation in the region, with more than 16,000 employees. IT support specialists and cybersecurity experts followed. The Tampa Bay tech workforce was 10% Black, 12% Hispanic and 27% women.
Top states for tech salaries
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.
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.
As we've noted, emerging 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 roughly 25% of all VC deals in 2014, the Bay area's share of deals was 18% last quarter.
