Austin took the top spot in yet another techy list this week — this one from California's RCLCO Real Estate Consulting. The real estate advisory firm today unveiled the results of its 2023 STEM Job Growth Index, which projects which metropolitan areas will have the strongest outlook for growth in STEM jobs.
The index tracks and projects STEM job growth trends in the U.S. by analyzing the economies of the largest metro areas to understand which regions are attracting the jobs and employees of the future.
"STEM jobs are characterized by a highly educated workforce and are some of the highest paying, most economically productive jobs in any market," RCLCO's Gregg Logan said. "Their importance in the economy cannot be overstated and our STEMdex, now in its seventh year of publication, aims to highlight the markets that currently feature strong levels of industry employment, and those likely to see strong growth in the future. We find the STEMdex is an easy and intuitive way for people to understand the trends in employment and housing that STEM jobs will bring to these cities in the coming years."
The index's analysis focuses on metrics in four major areas RCLCO finds to be most important to the growth of STEM jobs: trends/economic factors, workforce quality, quality of life/health, and business climate. In total, RCLCO identified and weighted 25 different indicators it believes best characterize the four major categories and can quantify their impact on the STEM job market.
Austin took the top spot for the second year in a row and for the fifth time in seven years.
Unsurprisingly, San Jose currently has the highest concentration of STEM jobs of the largest 50 MSAs in the country. The top five most heavily concentrated STEM markets – which also includes Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Austin, and Boston — all rank within the top 10 for projected future job growth.
Dallas was the only other Texas city to make the list's top 20, coming in 10th.
