Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley and N.Y. still top tech rankings
see also AEA Cybercities 2008

Silicon Valley, New York and Washington are still the country's top centers for high-tech employment, according to a report published Tuesday. But heavy concentrations of tech-industry workers can also be found in such cities as Boulder, Colo.; Huntsville, Ala.; and Durham, N.C., according to a report released Tuesday by the American Electronics Association.

'These are the types of jobs every city wants.' — Christopher Hansen, American Electronics Association

The association's "Cybercities" report, its first since 2000, also noted that 51 of the nation's top 60 metropolitan areas added high-tech jobs during 2006, which the group described as a sign of the industry's steady growth. "These are the types of jobs every city wants," Christopher Hansen, the association's CEO, said in a statement. Metro New York was the U.S.'s top tech employer, with 316,500 of the roughly 5.8 million U.S. tech workers, based on 2006 figures, the report said. Washington, D.C., was second, with 295,800, and the San Jose/Silicon Valley area of Northern California, with 225,300. Combined with San Francisco and Oakland, the wider Bay Area, long known as the world's tech mecca and home to such pioneers as Intel Corp., Google Inc. and Oracle Corp., topped the Big Apple with more than 386,000 workers.

In terms of concentration, San Jose/Silicon Valley was on top with roughly 285.9 of every 1,000 private-sector tech workers. Boulder was No. 2, with 230.5, followed by Huntsville, with 188.5, and Durham, with 155.9. The Riverside-San Bernardino area in Southern California posted the biggest growth in tech employment from 2005 to 2006, with an 11.5% increase, followed by Durham, at 8.4%, and Salt Lake City, with 7.2%. Tech workers in the San Jose/Silicon Valley area were the highest-paid, with an average annual salary of $144,800, followed by San Francisco, at $118,500, and Austin, Texas, at $100,500. San Jose/Silicon Valley also was the dominant area for technology manufacturing, the report said. Metro New York was prominent in the tech-service category, with many of its workers in telecommunications, Internet services, R&D and testing labs, and computer training services. Washington, D.C., was the leader in computer systems design and similar services and in engineering services, according to the report, based on 2006 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.