In more great news for the D.C. metro area's tech hub rankings: D.C. came out on top in WalletHub's annual Most Innovative State rankings. Maryland followed close behind in second and Virginia ranked seventh.
Now, OK, sure, D.C. is not a state (yet) and its demographics are comparable to that of a major city, so that probably skews some of the results here. But the report is filled with more great news for the region: by 2020, D.C. will have the highest demand for STEM jobs, Virginia will have the second highest and Maryland will have the fourth highest (only being beat out by Washington State, but still beating out the losers in Massachusetts).
Still need more bragging points? WalletHub has plenty:
- The D.C. region seems to have the highest share of science and engineer graduates who are older than 25, based on the total number of degree holders in the same age group. D.C. came out on top, Maryland followed in second and Virginia came out in fifth. (California came out in fourth, which is fine, I guess.)
- The DMV rounds out the top three rankings for the highest share of technology companies, which is based on the percentage of the "total number of establishments." Virginia is first, Maryland is second, and D.C. is third. Silicon Valley who?
- In terms of highest share of research and development spending per capita, the region can brag for D.C. and Maryland, which came in first and third, respectively. Virginia didn't make the top five list. And, of course, it's important to note the number of federal agencies that probably play into this ranking, too.
Time for the not so great news: the region isn't doing as well in terms of venture capital dollars per capita. The only local place listed in the top five is D.C., and again, in case you forgot, there are only 50 states. Now, Maryland and Virginia aren't in the worst five states, which is optimistic, but it does beg the question of how exactly the most innovative region plans to get by without having the top venture capital resources.
The lack of funding in the region shouldn't be total news. With the exception of OneWeb's $1.2 billion deal, which skewed report numbers, in Q4 2016, there were 10 fewer VC deals, at 176, than the same time last year, according to a report from CB Insights and PriceWaterhouseCooper. The D.C. area raised $2.7 billion in that quarter, which was 26 percent higher than the year before, but obviously, you have to account for OneWeb's giant deal.
Dig through the rankings yourself:
Image used via CC BY 2.0 — credit Anthony Quintano
