WASHINGTON, D.C. RANKS NO. 3 ON CBRE’S ANNUAL ‘SCORING TECH TALENT’ REPORT

Washington, D.C. – July 13, 2021 – The Washington, D.C. region ranks third overall on CBRE’s 2021 Scoring Tech Talent report as North American tech-talent employment weathered the pandemic better than most other professions.

Numerous indicators underscore the resilience of tech talent during COVID-19. These occupations registered job growth of 0.8 percent in 2020 in the U.S. while non-tech occupations declined by 5.5 percent. Software developers and programmers were the most in demand tech-job category last year, adding 85,000 U.S. jobs for a 4.8 percent growth rate from a year earlier. Beyond the tech industry itself, those that added tech workers last year include financial activities, professional & business services, and government.

The Washington, D.C. metro area has the fourth largest tech talent labor pool in North America with 265,370 tech workers, a 10 percent increase from 2015. The metro area also has the sixth highest concentration of tech talent as a percentage of its overall workforce: 8.8 percent. Following the pandemic, factors including the size and concentration of a market’s talent labor pool are key indicators of a region’s economic recovery.

Rounding out the top five markets for tech talent in 2021 were the San Francisco Bay Area (#1), Seattle (#2), Toronto (#4) and New York City (#5), all large markets with a tech labor pool of more than 50,000. Washington, D.C. fell one spot from 2020, ranking third overall this year.

“With its large tech labor pool and ample supply of highly-educated tech talent, the D.C. region is poised to become one of the largest tech growth markets in the next five to 10 years,” said Vice Chair Meredith LaPier with CBRE‘s Tech & Media Practice in metro-D.C. “This anticipated growth will be buoyed by D.C.’s infrastructure around housing and transit capacity.”

CBRE’s annual report, now in its ninth year, ranks the top 50 North American markets by analyzing 13 measures of their ability to attract and develop tech talent, including tech graduation rates, tech-job concentration, tech labor pool size, and labor and real estate costs, among others. 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 developers and systems and data managers – across all industries.

The Washington, D.C. region stood out in the report in a number of other key areas:

• The region produces the third most tech graduates in North America with 12,623 tech degree graduates in 2019, a 42.3 percent increase during the past five years.
• D.C. also ranks second for tech educational attainment, with 51.4 percent of 25+ year old individuals obtaining bachelor’s degrees or higher, compared to the national average of 33.1 percent.
• Washington, D.C. is the most gender diverse tech talent market when benchmarked by its office-using industries. Females comprise 32.3 percent of the tech talent workforce and 49.7 percent of the office-using workforce. On the national level, females make up 27 percent of tech talent and 51 percent of office-using industries.
• Overall, D.C. has the fourth highest expenses of operating a tech company. The average one-year cost for operating a 500-employee tech company occupying 75,000 sq. ft. in the D.C. metro area amounts to $55.8 million. 

 

Top Overall North American Tech Markets

2021 Rank	Market	Score	2021 Rank	Market	Score
1	Bay Area	86.40	6	Boston	62.60
2	Seattle	73.16	7	Austin	58.87
3	Washington, DC	65.60	8	Atlanta	57.78
4	Toronto	64.78	9	LA/Orange Co.	57.62
5	New York Metro	63.44	10	Ottawa	57.34

 

 

To download the report, click here.