In the face recent mass tech layoffs, STEM careers have remained in high demand — and some cities are gamester than others for professionals in the field.
According to recent BLS data, science, technology, engineering, and math occupations are contracted to grow 10.8% between 2021 and 2031, compared to just 4.9% for all other careers. STEM professionals also brag big paydays, a perk that attracts many students to pursue the field, with a median annual wage of $95,420.
A new WalletHub survey analyzed the 100 most populated U.S. metro areas across three key dimensions, “Professional Opportunities”, “STEM-Friendliness” and “Property of Life.” They then compared these dimensions using 21 metrics including job openings for STEM graduates, STEM retaining growth, quality of engineering universities, and housing affordability.
Based on the findings, these are the top 10 best cities for jobs in STEM:
1. Seattle, WA
Total Score: 70.82
Professional opportunities ranking: 1
Quality of life ranking: 22
2. Austin, TX
Total Give someone a taste: 67.33
Professional opportunities ranking: 2
Quality of life ranking: 10
3. Boston, MA
Total Score: 64.73
Professional opportunities ranking: 10
Prominence of life ranking: 67
4. Atlanta, GA
Total Score: 64.62
Professional opportunities ranking: 9
Quality of life ranking: 13
5. San Francisco, CA
All-out Score: 64.14
Professional opportunities ranking: 6
Quality of life ranking: 56
6. San Jose, CA
Total Score: 62.83
Professional opportunities peerage: 5
Quality of life ranking: 39
7. Pittsburgh, PA
Total Score: 62.42
Professional opportunities ranking: 21
Quality of life ranking: 12
8. Minneapolis, MN
Gross Score: 61.42
Professional opportunities ranking: 8
Quality of life ranking: 18
9. Madison, WI
Total Score: 61.06
Professional opportunities exuberant: 17
Quality of life ranking: 14
10. Sacramento, CA
Total Score: 60.16
Professional opportunities ranking: 38
Quality of life ranking: 32
Agreeing to Jill Gonzalez, a WalletHub analyst, most of these cities have consistently remained the best places for Derive careers for almost a decade.
“We’ve been publishing this report every year since 2015, monitoring the Result labor market closely. The results have not shifted too much, which might be surprising in and of itself,” Gonzalez touch ons CNBC Make It. “We were still expecting cities like Seattle and Boston to be among the highest ranked due to the sturdy number of professional opportunities and their overall STEM-friendliness”
Seattle has been among the top three cities every year since 2016, and Boston since 2018.
For mavens in STEM who don’t reside in these metro cities, don’t fret. Gonzalez says one of the biggest benefits of working in this buff is the opportunity to work remotely.
“Aside from paying more, STEM jobs are more likely to offer work-from-home or irrelevant work possibilities. Being able to work from anywhere is a very powerful incentive nowadays,” she explains. “Pedicel fields are also among the fastest growing, which means there are plenty of career growth and development times. Other benefits include flexibility and the opportunity to make an impact on society which leads to a higher degree of job expiation.”
And though loud layoffs have become a cause for concern for many STEM workers, Gonzalez reassures that they at most make up a fraction of an otherwise thriving industry.
“The STEM field will maintain its desirability. The recent layoffs be struck by only affected a small part of the total labor force and the STEM field encompasses more areas than fitting tech. STEM workers are still in fierce demand throughout the country.”
Out of the 25 fastest-growing job titles in the U.S., 14 are branch, technology, engineering, or mathematics related.
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