CHARLOTTE, N.C. — As North Carolina continues to strengthen its tech pipeline to attract more high-paying, white-collar jobs, a new study on average salaries for technology workers across the nation offer hope for skilled workers looking to relocate to Charlotte and other major cities in the state.
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Business.org has ranked the 100 largest metro areas in the U.S. based on their average tech salaries. Charlotte ranked ahead of both Durham and Raleigh — at No. 14 — with an average tech salary of $94,217 in 2018, representing 4% income growth from the year before. Raleigh comes in at No. 18, with an average salary of $92,349, and Durham was right behind in the No. 19 slot at $92,080. Raleigh’s tech worker salary growth was only 0.73% over the year, while the Durham metro saw growth of 1.43%.
Government officials in North Carolina have been pushing for more tech-trained workers. In the information and business services sector, the Raleigh-Cary metro area already has added almost 2,000 jobs since the beginning of the year, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“The high salaries in cities like San Fran or New York may seem appealing on paper, but when you factor in cost of living, it’s not as much as you’d think,” says Shea Drake, content strategist for Business.org.
Check out this slideshow to see the 20 cities with the highest-paid tech workers.