Tech talent report: Austin is catching up to San Francisco, other tech hubs

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin is among the nation's top cities for tech talent, according to a new report.

The city ranked sixth overall — one spot higher than last year — in the annual Scoring Tech Talent report by CBRE, a commercial real estate agency based in Austin.

The group ranked the top 50 markets in North America by looking at each city's ability to attract and develop tech talent.

Some of the factors include tech graduation rates, tech-job concentration, tech labor pool size and labor and real estate costs. Each metric is weighted by its relative importance to job creation and innovation, according to CBRE.

Austin received an index score of 65.19 out of 100, placing it sixth behind San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, Washington, D.C. and New York.

"Our market continues to be one of the hottest relocation destinations for tech companies and tech workers in the entire country," Nate Stricklen, executive vice president of CBRE in Austin, said. "While the overall economy may experience some softening in the next few quarters, I believe Austin will continue to attract the best and brightest that the tech industry has to offer."

Dallas/Fort Worth ranks second highest among cities in Texas and ninth overall. Houston ranked 36 out of the 50 cities analyzed, while San Antonio ranked 47th.

According to the report, Austin had almost 85,000 tech workers in 2021, a 21% increase since 2016. Millennials made up a significant chunk of that increase. In fact, Austin had the highest concentration of millennials in any North American city as of 2020.

The city also ranked ninth for most Gen Z residents of working age — people between 20 and 24 years old.

Meanwhile, Austin ranked seventh in educational attainment rate. According to the report, 46% of Austin's population has a bachelor's degree or higher, well above the national average of 32.9%.