Pittsburgh Ranks #26 In CBRE’s Annual ‘Scoring Tech Talent’ Report

Pittsburgh ranks #26 overall in CBRE’s 2022 Scoring Tech Talent report as North American tech-talent employment bounced back from the pandemic to post job gains across most top markets in 2021, though the industry’s resilience will be tested again amid economic turmoil in 2022, according to a new report from CBRE.

The U.S. added a net 136,000 tech talent jobs last year across established hubs such as the San Francisco Bay Area, New York and Seattle as well as smaller markets like Nashville, Cleveland and California’s Inland Empire. Both tech job growth and tech office leasing proved resilient by rebounding in 2021 from slowdowns in 2020.

Pittsburgh is among the gainers in this year’s report, rising three spots from last year’s ranking due in part to its sizable tech labor pool and talent pipeline, among other factors. Pittsburgh’s tech talent labor pool is the largest among small tech markets with 43,910 workers representing 4.2 percent of the metro’s total employment in 2021.

“The region’s universities are creating a pipeline of high-quality talent that ensures employers’ needs are met now and in the future,” said Randy McCombs, Executive Vice President at CBRE. “Additionally, companies are drawn to Pittsburgh’s relative lower cost of doing business. These factors, combined with a lower cost of living, and an abundance of cultural, music and sports teams make Pittsburgh an attractive location for the tech community to call home.”

CBRE’s report, now in its 10th 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.

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.

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

• Between 2016 and 2021, Pittsburgh’s tech workforce grew by 2 percent, adding 960 employees.
• Pittsburgh was ranked as the most diverse small tech market in the U.S. for underrepresented groups (Hispanic, Black and Other Non-White/Non-Asian people) in 2020 when compared with these groups in office-using industries in the metro.
• Of Pittsburgh’s 5,455 tech degree graduates in 2020, women accounted for 33.9 percent, the highest percentage among the top 50 U.S. markets.
• Pittsburgh produced 25,300 tech degree graduates between 2016 and 2020 and added less than 1,000 jobs. That means an ample supply of tech talent becomes available each year for workforce growth.
• Overall, Pittsburgh ranks among the most affordable U.S. markets for tech company operating expenses. The average one-year cost for operating a 500-employee tech company occupying 75,000 sq. ft. in Pittsburgh amounts to $42.5 million. That ranks it 20th most affordable among the top 50 tech talent markets.
• Pittsburgh is in the middle of the pack for affordable living for tech talent workers, with the average annual apartment rent accounting for 17.3 percent of the average tech talent wage. That ranks Pittsburgh the 21st most affordable among the 50 largest tech markets.

Biggest Gainers In Tech Talent Top 50