Newark Among East Coast’s Best Cities for Tech Talent
Total tech occupations grew 9.7 percent from 2013 to 2018 in Newark, New Jersey according to CBRE’s annual Scoring Tech Talent Report, which ranks 50 U.S. and Canadian markets according to their ability to attract and grow tech talent. The CBRE report ranks Newark as a top east coast market with more than 53,000 tech jobs, most in software development, computer programming and database system management.
Tech labor concentration – or the percentage of total employment – is an influential factor in how “tech-centric” the market is and its growth potential. The top five markets for tech talent in 2019 were the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Toronto, Washington, D.C., and New York, all large markets with a tech labor pool of more than 150,000.
The Tech Talent Scorecard is determined based on 13 unique metrics, including tech talent supply, gender diversity, growth, concentration, cost, completed tech degrees, industry outlook for job growth, and market outlook for both office and apartment rent cost growth.
Newark stood out in the report in a number of other key areas:
- Newark is a tech talent creator. In the last five years the metro produced 6,153 more tech graduates than the market could employ. The region produced more than 2,750 new tech grads in 2017, up 57.3 percent in the past five years.
- The rent-to-tech wage ratio is relatively low at 18.6 percent. The average apartment rent for a year in 2019 is $20,597 ($1,716/month), and the average annual tech wage is $110,772. In the most expensive market, New York (Manhattan), NY, those numbers are $49,445 ($4,120/month) and $113,500, (a rent-to-wage ratio of 43.6 percent) respectively.
- The Greater New York area is the most gender diverse market for tech occupations, with 71.7 percent male and 28.3 percent female.
“Newark has the ideal combination of a highly educated and talented workforce, and is conveniently located in proximity to Manhattan,” said Dudley Ryan, Senior Vice President, CBRE. “As one of the top east coast tech hubs and the largest port on the east coast, second only to the west coast’s Port of Los Angeles, Newark’s technology sector is well positioned for growth in both technology and logistics.”