John Cook in GeekWire has done a terrific analysis of the Washington State data from a new national study of where tech jobs are located in the United States. Some key observations:
- Overall, Washington State was the top state for tech job concentration, at 11 percent.
- Snohomish County (home to Boeing’s Everett plant and several biotechnology companies) leads the state with a 25 percent concentration, and a whopping tech job growth rate of 14 percent. King County isn’t too shabby either, coming in at a 17 percent concentration and 4.2 percent growth rate. Benton County shows a 7.9 percent concentration of tech jobs. Tech is everywhere in our state!
- Nationally, the story is the same. While areas such as Seattle, San Francisco and Austin remain hot, rust belt cities such as Dayton, Ohio and Troy, Michigan also show high concentrations.
- A minimum of 61% of counties nationally had at least some high-tech jobs in 2011. In 2009, more than 72% of counties had at least one new business establishment in the high-tech sector.
- High-tech startups have held relatively steady during the economic downturn, even while new business establishments across the entire private sector have declined.
Read John’s post here – it includes links to the national study.