High-Tech Jobs

Jobs in electronics and high-tech electronics manufacturing, software and computer-related services, telecommunications, data processing and information services, biomedical and electromedical services as a share of total employment.

Why Is This Important? While high-tech industries make up less than 8 percent of the overall economy's output, they are key drivers of the New Economy. Just as capital- and machinery-intensive industries (autos, chemicals, and steel) drove growth in the 1950s and '60s, high-tech firms are the growth engines of the New Economy. And high-tech is concentrated in the nation's metro areas: While the largest 114 metro areas account for 67 percent of all jobs, they account for 81 percent of high-tech employment.

The Rankings: The high-tech focus of metropolitan areas varies significantly, from a high of 9 percent of the workforce in Austin to 1 percent in Las Vegas.25 With the exception of Chicago and Minneapolis, the leaders tend to be on the two coasts (Boston, Washington, D.C., Raleigh, Portland, San Francisco, and San Diego) and in the Mountain and Southwest states (Denver, Dallas, and Austin).26 And these metros tend to specialize in different aspects of high-technology: software and biotech in Boston; Internet, telecommunications, and biotech in Washington, D.C.; telecommunications and biotech in Denver; semiconductors in Phoenix and Portland; and a broad mix of technologies in Silicon Valley and Los Angeles.

		100th-76th Percentile
		75th-51st Percentile
		50th-26th Percentile
		25th-1st Percentile

METRO AREAS BY RANK
Rank	Metro Area	Score
1	Austin	9.0%
2	San Francisco	8.6%
3	Raleigh-Durham	8.0%
4	Boston	7.1%
5	Denver	5.1%
6	Dallas	5.0%
7	San Diego	4.9%
8	Washington	4.8%
9	Minneapolis	4.7%
10	Portland	4.5%
11	Sacramento	4.5%
12	Rochester	4.2%
13	Atlanta	4.1%
14	New York	4.0%
15	Chicago	4.0%
16	Salt Lake City	4.0%
17	Phoenix	4.0%
18	Kansas City	3.8%
19	Tampa	3.6%
20	Philadelphia	3.5%
21	Pittsburgh	3.4%
22	Los Angeles	3.4%
23	Seattle	3.4%
24	Hartford	3.1%
25	Orlando	3.1%
26	Columbus	3.0%
27	St. Louis	3.0%
28	San Antonio	2.9%
29	Charlotte	2.8%
30	Indianapolis	2.7%
31	Milwaukee	2.7%
32	Dayton	2.7%
33	Detroit	2.7%
34	Buffalo	2.7%
35	Oklahoma City	2.6%
36	Cleveland	2.6%
37	West Palm Beach	2.6%
38	Houston	2.5%
39	Richmond	2.4%
40	Cincinnati	2.4%
41	Miami	2.4%
42	Memphis	2.3%
43	Greensboro	2.3%
44	Jacksonville	2.1%
45	Nashville	1.9%
46	Norfolk	1.9%
47	Louisville	1.9%
48	Grand Rapids	1.9%
49	New Orleans	1.2%
50	Las Vegas	1.1%
	U.S. Average	3.1%
	Top 50 Metro Average	4.0%

ALPHABETICALLY
Metro Area	Rank	Score
Atlanta	13	4.1%
Austin	1	9.0%
Boston	4	7.1%
Buffalo	34	2.7%
Charlotte	29	2.8%
Chicago	15	4.0%
Cincinnati	40	2.4%
Cleveland	36	2.6%
Columbus	26	3.0%
Dallas	6	5.0%
Dayton	32	2.7%
Denver	5	5.1%
Detroit	33	2.7%
Grand Rapids	48	1.9%
Greensboro	43	2.3%
Hartford	24	3.1%
Houston	38	2.5%
Indianapolis	30	2.7%
Jacksonville	44	2.1%
Kansas City	18	3.8%
Las Vegas	50	1.1%
Los Angeles	22	3.4%
Louisville	47	1.9%
Memphis	42	2.3%
Miami	41	2.4%
Milwaukee	31	2.7%
Minneapolis	9	4.7%
Nashville	45	1.9%
New Orleans	49	1.2%
New York	14	4.0%
Norfolk	46	1.9%
Oklahoma City	35	2.6%
Orlando	25	3.1%
Philadelphia	20	3.5%
Phoenix	17	4.0%
Pittsburgh	21	3.4%
Portland	10	4.5%
Raleigh-Durham	3	8.0%
Richmond	39	2.4%
Rochester	12	4.2%
Sacramento	11	4.5%
Salt Lake City	16	4.0%
San Antonio	28	2.9%
San Diego	7	4.9%
San Francisco	2	8.6%
Seattle	23	3.4%
St. Louis	27	3.0%
Tampa	19	3.6%
Washington	8	4.8%
West Palm Beach	37	2.6%

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The Progressive Policy Institute (PPI)
Technology, Innovation, and New Economy Project
600 Pennsylvania Ave., S.E., Suite 400, Washington DC 20003
Phone: (202) 547-0001
www.ppionline.org

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