In spite of the serious economic impact of the pandemic this past year, the average annual salary for technologists in the U.S. rose to $97,859. This is a 3.6% increase from 2019, according to Dice’s 2021 Tech Salary Report.
In the established and prominent tech hubs of Silicon Valley and New York City, number one and two in average annual salary, the talent magnets saw average pay reaching $126,801 (2.4% increase) in the former, while the latter rose to $114,274 (11.6%) between 2019 and 2020. Emerging tech hubs, Charlotte and Orlando, had greatest percentile increases of 13.8% and 13.4%. respectively.
Boston, San Diego, Baltimore, Seattle, Denver, Austin, Los Angeles and Minneapolis round out the top ten of cities having the highest tech salaries.
Separate from the Dice study, Michigan recently shared their priority of supporting women in technology via a study titled “Explore, Focus and Grow: A Technology Career Journey in Michigan,” with the stated goal of making Michigan the number 1 state for women in technology,
DHI Group CEO Art Zeile, the parent company of Dice, expressed optimism, stating, “In this year’s report, it’s encouraging to see significant salary growth for data-related occupations and roles supporting digital transformation. The ongoing demand for technologists is also reflected in the compensation growth across both traditional and emerging tech hubs.”
Specific jobs seeing the largest salary increase in 2020 included any that helped organize and analyze data, ensure efficiency and safety during the pandemic, and those that could evolve or digitize product offerings for the unique challenges of the pandemic. Cybersecurity analysts had the largest jump, with a 16.3% increase. DevOps Engineers also saw notable growth since 2019 by 12.2%.
Dice’s annual report surveys over 9,000 technologists for its findings, with analysis of salaries by skill, experience level, location, and occupation. It additionally includes technologist perceptions on received benefits, salary satisfaction, and other compensation-related items.
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