Prospering in tough times

Salaries rose sharply for tech professionals over the last five years despite the economic downturn, and Houston had the largest percentage gain in the nation:

Dallas-Fort Worth $86,136

Charlotte, N.C. $86,314

Silicon Valley $101,278

St. Louis $81,245

Austin $89,680

Houston $94,186

Chicago $85,098

Phoenix $83,607

Boston $94,742

Detroit $76,515

Average salary

11% 8%

14%

14%

Gain

26%
17% 17% N/A
SOURCE: Dice Salary Surveys of more than 15,000 employed technology professionals taken from Aug. 22 through Nov. 15, 2007, and Sept. 24-Nov. 16, 2012

N/A

Texas

22%
13%

+18%
U.S.

30%

+15%

Top 10 cities for tech jobs

These cities have the most open jobs for tech professionals, but only Chicago had more postings than a year ago:

Silicon Valley -10%

Washington D.C./ Baltimore -9%

Chicago +4%

Los Angeles -3%

Philadelphia -1%

Change
New York -4% Boston -3%

Dallas -3%

2,488 3,226 Available jobs

Seattle -12%

Atlanta -4%

8,829 5,123
3,344

3,974 7,527
2,435

2,973
SOURCE: Dice.com job postings on March 1, 2013, compared with the previous year

3,107

Hot cities
Markets adding tech professional jobs the fastest: Available jobs Change St. Louis Charlotte, N.C. Austin Phoenix Detroit 871 1,511 1,102 1,402 1,124 25% 22% 16% 13% 10%

What is a tech professional?

Skilled workers in such areas as coding, graphic design, software and database development, data analysis and computer support services
Michael Hogue/Staff Artist

SOURCE: Dice.com job postings on March 1, 2013, compared with the previous year