Baltimore Ranks #17 in CBRE’s Annual ‘Scoring Tech Talent’ Report

Baltimore ranks #17 overall in CBRE’s 2023 Scoring Tech Talent report, remaining in the Top 20 markets as macroeconomic headwinds slowed tech talent hiring by major tech firms in North America, according to a new report from CBRE.

Overall, the U.S. and Canada added a net 760,000 tech talent jobs since 2020 across established hubs such as the San Francisco Bay Area, New York, Seattle and Vancouver as well as smaller markets like Nashville, Cleveland and Canada’s Waterloo Region. The number of U.S. tech talent workers increased 7.3% from May 2021 to May 2022, which is significantly higher than the 5% growth in total U.S. employment in May 2022. Software developers and programmers across all industries accounted for more than half of the new tech talent employment.

“Baltimore tech professionals are among the highest paid tech workers in the country, despite living in one of the more affordable large coastal cities,” said CBRE Executive Vice President David Fields. “Baltimore has a growing cybersecurity community and 23.9% of tech workers concentrated in government. We anticipate that Baltimore tech companies and workers should continue to see growth despite current economic uncertainty given the relative stability of the public sector.”

CBRE’s annual Scoring Tech Talent report covers 75 North American markets, ranks the top 50 tech markets in the U.S. and Canada and outlines tech talent labor market trends amid economic shifts and increased remote hiring. CBRE also ranks the Next 25 emerging tech markets on a narrower set of criteria. Tech talent is defined as 20 key tech professions – such as software engineers and systems and data managers – across all industries.

For the first time this year, CBRE’s report examines tech talent wages paid by tech companies based on geography. Nationally, Baltimore ranks #4 in average annual wage for tech talent in the tech industry, ($113,544) just behind Boston ($121,794) and ahead of the D.C. region ($105,808). The San Francisco Bay Area ($185,425) and Seattle ($172,009) had the highest average wages, while Sacramento ($107,580) and Jacksonville ($105,353) were the highest among small markets.

Baltimore stood out in the report in several other key areas:

• Baltimore’s tech talent workforce of 76,460 grew by 5% from 2017 to 2022. 
• Even though it is ranked fourth highest in wages for tech workers in the tech industry, Baltimore has relatively affordable real estate costs for a leading tech hub. Its average annual office asking rent ($23.84 per sq. ft.) is 34th most expensive, its average monthly apartment rent ($1,658 a month) is 19th most expensive and its ratio of tech salary to apartment rent of 17.8% ranks at #33.
• Baltimore’s population of people in their 30s increased by 7.2% from 2016 to 2021. And it is among the top 25 markets with the highest concentration for people in their 30s at 14.1% of its population. From 2016-2021, Baltimore also grew by 4.8% in residents in their 20s with college degrees and by 5.6% in residents in their 30s with college degrees.
• It creates more tech graduates (20,090 from 2017 to 2021) than tech jobs (-550 from 2018 to 2022), meaning that the market generates surplus tech talent for expanding and relocating companies.

To download the full report, click here.

Additionally, CBRE’s latest tech talent analyzer provides an interactive, in-depth comparison of tech talent in different markets. For more information, click here.