North Carolina’s pandemic tech boom ranks top 5 nationally

The variety of tech employees in North Carolina grew by almost 5% throughout the pandemic.

The highest 5 states:

1. Tennessee +7.6%
2. Idaho +7.3%
3. Washington +6.6%
4. Utah +5.3%
5. North Carolina +4.9%

Why it issues: North Carolina’s tech trade was surging earlier than the pandemic, particularly throughout the Triangle, the place Raleigh’s rising status has made it the goal of huge tech companies.

• That rising status as a spot for tech expertise, together with a less expensive price of dwelling than most tech hubs, resembling New York Metropolis or the Bay Space, has caught the eye of many tech employees now geographically freed by the potential for distant work.
• Like many areas seeing inhabitants development throughout the pandemic, housing costs and rents have risen considerably within the Triangle over the previous two years.

Flashback: In 2021, North Carolina gave Apple the most important incentive package deal within the state’s historical past to open a campus in Wake County.

• Apple might get almost $1 billion in state and native tax breaks, in trade for 3,000 new jobs with a mean annual wage of $187,000. It has slowly began hiring domestically.
• Google can be planning to place 1,000 jobs in a cloud computing hub in downtown Durham. It employed greater than 100 individuals final yr.

Sure, however: It is not simply tech giants contributing to the expansion. Regionally grown tech startups — like Epic Video games and Pendo — have additionally created hundreds of jobs prior to now two years.

By the numbers: The TECNA report targeted on a two-year span from Dec. 2019-2021, a interval dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of distant work.

Throughout the state, Raleigh noticed its tech jobs develop by greater than 6% to 105,000 tech professionals, based on TECNA.

• Charlotte grew by 8% to 80,000 tech professionals.
• TECNA lists Raleigh because the nineteenth largest tech hub by variety of employees. Charlotte is No. 22.

Of word: Georgia, Maryland, and North Carolina had the smallest gender gaps among the many 25 states with the most important tech workforces.

• Sure, however: There may be nonetheless a 40 share level hole between the variety of male employees vs. feminine employees within the state.
• Within the Raleigh metro, 71% of tech employees are male, whereas 29% are feminine.