Economy
The U.S. States with the Top Tech Salaries in 2021
The U.S. States with the Top Tech Salaries in 2021
In 2020, despite the economic turmoil caused by the global pandemic, America’s tech sector experienced rapid growth. Last year, the total number of U.S. tech jobs grew by 60,000.
Because of this demand, U.S. employers are willing to pay for the right talent—on average, tech workers in the U.S. earn about 61% more than the average salary. But some tech workers make more than others, depending on where they live.
This graphic by business.org uses data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to highlight the average annual tech salaries in each state, compared to the average salary of other occupations. We’ll also touch on the top-paying metro areas, and what type of tech jobs offer the highest compensation across the country.
Average U.S. Tech Salaries by State
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Washington and California have the highest average salaries, largely because of the high job density in those areas.
However, when it comes to the difference in tech salary versus average salary, Alabama takes the top spot—on average, tech jobs pay 85% more than other occupations in that state.
Rank | State | Average hourly wage for tech workers | Average salary for tech workers | % more that tech workers earn than all occupations |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Alabama | $41.69 | $86,720 | 85% |
2 | Washington | $58.96 | $122,640 | 83% |
3 | North Carolina | $44.19 | $91,920 | 80% |
4 | Texas | $45.04 | $93,690 | 79% |
5 | Virginia | $51.50 | $107,130 | 78% |
6 | California | $56.16 | $116,820 | 78% |
7 | Georgia | $44.00 | $91,510 | 76% |
8 | Delaware | $47.76 | $99,340 | 75% |
9 | Mississippi | $34.48 | $71,720 | 72% |
10 | Ohio | $41.48 | $86,270 | 67% |
11 | Idaho | $37.65 | $78,320 | 67% |
12 | New Hampshire | $45.50 | $94,650 | 67% |
13 | South Carolina | $37.06 | $77,080 | 67% |
14 | Iowa | $39.34 | $81,820 | 66% |
15 | Florida | $39.81 | $82,810 | 66% |
16 | Maryland | $50.55 | $105,150 | 65% |
17 | Colorado | $48.33 | $100,520 | 65% |
18 | Arkansas | $35.28 | $73,390 | 64% |
19 | Kentucky | $36.21 | $75,330 | 64% |
20 | Missouri | $39.44 | $82,040 | 64% |
21 | New Jersey | $50.04 | $104,090 | 63% |
22 | Pennsylvania | $42.29 | $87,970 | 63% |
23 | Arizona | $41.84 | $87,030 | 63% |
24 | Oregon | $44.25 | $92,040 | 62% |
25 | West Virginia | $35.29 | $73,410 | 62% |
26 | Kansas | $37.70 | $78,420 | 61% |
27 | Tennessee | $36.86 | $76,660 | 61% |
28 | Utah | $39.82 | $82,830 | 61% |
29 | Minnesota | $45.47 | $94,570 | 61% |
30 | Indiana | $37.66 | $78,340 | 61% |
31 | Nebraska | $38.83 | $80,770 | 61% |
32 | Illinois | $44.87 | $93,320 | 61% |
33 | Wisconsin | $39.55 | $82,270 | 61% |
34 | Oklahoma | $36.33 | $75,560 | 60% |
35 | New Mexico | $38.06 | $79,160 | 59% |
36 | Louisiana | $35.50 | $73,840 | 59% |
37 | Nevada | $38.29 | $79,650 | 58% |
38 | Maine | $38.48 | $80,030 | 56% |
39 | South Dakota | $33.65 | $70,000 | 56% |
40 | Rhode Island | $44.43 | $92,410 | 53% |
41 | Michigan | $39.32 | $81,780 | 53% |
42 | New York | $49.65 | $103,280 | 52% |
43 | Montana | $34.40 | $71,540 | 51% |
44 | Massachusetts | $50.67 | $105,400 | 51% |
45 | Vermont | $38.55 | $80,180 | 50% |
46 | Connecticut | $45.94 | $95,550 | 46% |
47 | Hawaii | $40.32 | $83,870 | 44% |
48 | North Dakota | $34.53 | $71,820 | 37% |
49 | Alaska | $40.02 | $83,250 | 35% |
50 | Wyoming | $32.52 | $67,640 | 32% |
51 | District of Columbia | $54.78 | $113,930 | 20% |
Why are tech workers so generously compensated in Alabama? It could be because the area’s talent pool is not keeping up with demand.
In 2021, Huntsville, Alabama is expected to see 25,000 new jobs in aerospace, logistics, defense, and other tech-related industries. But these jobs could be difficult to fill given the area’s low unemployment rate.
On the other end of the spectrum, the District of Columbia has the smallest discrepancy between tech and other salaries. But at $95,330, the area has the highest average yearly salary for other occupations in the country—and tech workers still make 20% more.
Top 10 Metro Areas for Tech Salaries
Some of the highest-paying states are also home to the highest-paying metro areas.
For instance, when it comes to pay differences in tech, two of the top 10 metro areas are located in Washington state, while three are in California. The graphic below shows the metros with the highest difference between the area’s average salary and the average salary of tech jobs.
The highest pay difference between tech jobs vs the average salary is in San Jose, where tech workers make 507% more on average. This figure is almost certainly skewed because of the area’s high concentration of tech millionaires and top tier programmers.
Highest Paying Tech Jobs Nationally
Of course, location isn’t the only factor that plays into salary—the type of job is important, too. Here’s a look at U.S. tech salaries, organized by job type:
In this analysis, which looked at jobs in computer science as well as mathematics, actuaries are the highest paid professionals on average.
While actuaries are more on the mathematical and financial side of the equation, more commonly associated jobs with tech are all over the list as well: software developers, computer network architects, information security analysts, data scientists, computer programmers, web developers, computer systems analysts, and so on.
The Future of Tech is Bright
America’s information technology sector, worth about $1.6 trillion, is expected to grow to $5 trillion by the end of 2021. And as this fast-growing industry continues to boom, jobs in this sector are likely to remain in high supply.
Augmented Reality (AR) in the U.S. is looking especially promising and is projected to grow by a CAGR of 100% between 2021-2025.
In short, tech is expected to keep growing. And salaries will likely follow suit.
Technology
Ranked: America’s 20 Biggest Tech Layoffs Since 2020
How bad are the current layoffs in the tech sector? This visual reveals the 20 biggest tech layoffs since the start of the pandemic.

Ranked: America’s 20 Biggest Tech Layoffs This Decade
The events of the last few years could not have been predicted by anyone. From a global pandemic and remote work as the standard, to a subsequent hiring craze, rising inflation, and now, mass layoffs.
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, essentially laid off the equivalent of a small town just weeks ago, letting go of 12,000 people—the biggest layoffs the company has ever seen in its history. Additionally, Amazon and Microsoft have also laid off 10,000 workers each in the last few months, not to mention Meta’s 11,000.
This visual puts the current layoffs in the tech industry in context and ranks the 20 biggest tech layoffs of the 2020s using data from the tracker, Layoffs.fyi.
The Top 20 Layoffs of the 2020s
Since 2020, layoffs in the tech industry have been significant, accelerating in 2022 in particular. Here’s a look the companies that laid off the most people over the last three years.
Rank | Company | # Laid Off | % of Workforce | As of |
---|---|---|---|---|
#1 | 12,000 | 6% | Jan 2023 | |
#2 | Meta | 11,000 | 13% | Nov 2021 |
#3 | Amazon | 10,000 | 3% | Nov 2021 |
#4 | Microsoft | 10,000 | 5% | Jan 2023 |
#5 | Salesforce | 8,000 | 10% | Jan 2023 |
#6 | Amazon | 8,000 | 2% | Jan 2023 |
#7 | Uber | 6,700 | 24% | May 2020 |
#8 | Cisco | 4,100 | 5% | Nov 2021 |
#9 | IBM | 3,900 | 2% | Jan 2023 |
#10 | 3,700 | 50% | Nov 2021 | |
#11 | Better.com | 3,000 | 33% | Mar 2022 |
#12 | Groupon | 2,800 | 44% | Apr 2020 |
#13 | Peloton | 2,800 | 20% | Feb 2022 |
#14 | Carvana | 2,500 | 12% | May 2022 |
#15 | Katerra | 2,434 | 100% | Jun 2021 |
#16 | Zillow | 2,000 | 25% | Nov 2021 |
#17 | PayPal | 2,000 | 7% | Jan 2023 |
#18 | Airbnb | 1,900 | 25% | May 2020 |
#19 | Instacart | 1,877 | -- | Jan 2021 |
#20 | Wayfair | 1,750 | 10% | Jan 2023 |
Layoffs were high in 2020 thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, halting the global economy and forcing staff reductions worldwide. After that, things were steady until the economic uncertainty of last year, which ultimately led to large-scale layoffs in tech—with many of the biggest cuts happening in the past three months.
The Cause of Layoffs
Most workforce slashings are being blamed on the impending recession. Companies are claiming they are forced to cut down the excess of the hiring boom that followed the pandemic.
Additionally, during this hiring craze competition was fierce, resulting in higher salaries for workers, which is now translating in an increased need to trim the fat thanks to the current economic conditions.
Of course, the factors leading up to these recent layoffs are more nuanced than simple over-hiring plus recession narrative. In truth, there appears to be a culture shift occurring at many of America’s tech companies. As Rani Molla and Shirin Ghaffary from Recode have astutely pointed out, tech giants really want you to know they’re behaving like scrappy startups again.
Twitter’s highly publicized headcount reduction in late 2022 occurred for reasons beyond just macroeconomic factors. Elon Musk’s goal of doing more with a smaller team seemed to resonate with other founders and executives in Silicon Valley, providing an opening for others in tech space to cut down on labor costs as well. In just one example, Mark Zuckerberg hailed 2023 as the “year of efficiency” for Meta.
Meanwhile, over at Google, 12,000 jobs were put on the chopping block as the company repositions itself to win the AI race. In the words of Google’s own CEO:
“Over the past two years we’ve seen periods of dramatic growth. To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today… We have a substantial opportunity in front of us with AI across our products and are prepared to approach it boldly and responsibly.”– Sundar Pichai
The Bigger Picture in the U.S. Job Market
Beyond the tech sector, job openings continue to rise. Recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) revealed a total of 11 million job openings across the U.S., an increase of almost 7% month-over-month. This means that for every unemployed worker in America right now there are 1.9 job openings available.
Additionally, hiring increased significantly in January, with employers adding 517,000 jobs. While the BLS did report a decrease in openings in information-based industries, openings are increasing rapidly especially in the food services, retail trade, and construction industries.
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