Austin, Dallas Score High in Attracting Tech Talent

AUSTIN (CBRE) – Tech talent clustering is a growing driver of demand for office space in both large and small markets across the country, according to a new CBRE Research report, Scoring Tech Talent, which ranks 50 U.S. markets according to their ability to attract and grow tech talent. Austin ranked ninth and Dallas 11th on the list.

Austin’s talent growth rate from 2010 to 2013 was 26.5 percent.

"Downtown Austin has experienced an incredible transformation of culture in the last decade, which is in large part the result of tech companies’ preference to grow their workforces in an amenity-rich environment with access to livable space," said Erin Morales, senior vice president of CBRE’s Tech and Media Practice group in Austin. "One can’t survive well without the other, but the trilogy of housing, amenity and tech growth have fueled the economy in Austin, and the continued development of apartments, hotels and office buildings suggests this growth is sustainable."

Meanwhile, Dallas’ 2010–13 growth rate was 16.5 percent, making it the third largest tech talent labor market in the country — even larger than Silicon Valley, which ranked first on the list.

"With such a labor-rich tech talent pool, Dallas is gaining a ton of momentum and attracting out-of-state technology companies looking to capitalize on lower wage and real estate costs," said Clay Vaughn, first vice president of CBRE’s Tech and Media Practice group in Dallas. "If Dallas is not on everyone’s top ten list now, it will be within five years."

Following Silicon Valley were Washington, D.C., and San Francisco. Austin and Dallas were the only Texas cities to crack the top 24.