While the San Francisco Bay Area is still the center of the tech world, the exodus of tech workers from California has continued since the rise of remote work.
Among tech workers who moved last year, the most common states they ended up in were New York, Texas, California and Florida, according to the SignalFire report.
The nine largest cities where technicians were relocated were:
-
New York City, New York
-
Austin, Texas
-
Los Angeles, California
-
Denver, Colorado
-
San Diego, California
-
Miami/Fort Lauderdale, Florida
-
Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas
-
Nashville, Tennessee
-
Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida
New York saw a net increase in tech talent of about 3.5%, while Austin saw a net increase of about 1.5%. Los Angeles took third place with a net gain of around 0.5%.
Meanwhile, the nine cities from which technicians moved were as follows:
San Francisco experienced a net loss of tech talent of over 3.5%, while Seattle lost nearly 2.5% and Boston lost more than 0.5%.
According to the report, 15 percent of all tech workers who moved between 2023 and 2024 went to New York. New York attracted a significant portion of technicians, relocating from San Francisco, Boston, and Seattle, among others.
The trend of people generally moving from San Francisco and California to cities in Texas and Florida can be partly explained by a desire to escape the high cost of living. But despite high real estate prices and costs of living, New York City managed to attract the largest share of tech workers to relocate last year.
Some of the cities that attract tech workers also happen to be “Blue Island” cities in red states, like Austin, Nashville, Tampa and Miami.
