A fresh breakdown of Southern tech markets has handed the Triangle some serious bragging rights: Raleigh has climbed onto the podium at No. 3, while Durham has muscled its way into the region’s top 10. Together they highlight how the area’s universities, Research Triangle Park and long-standing employers keep feeding a steady pipeline of well-paying tech jobs.
The list comes from CommercialCafe, which evaluated 20 Southern metro areas using tech job density, median tech earnings and growth in tech establishments, among other measures. In the final tally, Washington, D.C., landed at No. 1 and Austin took No. 2, with job density and pay standing out as major score drivers.
Anchors That Keep The Triangle Competitive
Research Triangle Park, the region’s R&D campus created to keep university talent at home, has been a foundation of the area’s tech economy since its launch in 1959, according to the Research Triangle Regional Partnership. Major companies that anchor jobs and R&D in the Triangle include SAS, Red Hat and Bandwidth, all of which maintain large local operations and help sustain a specialized talent pipeline.
What Pushed Raleigh Up
CommercialCafe credited Raleigh’s rise to a mix of metro growth, dense tech employment, stronger median tech earnings and a relatively low unemployment rate. The analysis reported roughly 78.4 tech jobs per 1,000 workers and median tech earnings near $107,000. That pay edge helped Raleigh nudge past neighboring Durham, which the local coverage put at about $103,000 median for tech workers, even as Durham remained competitive on other indicators.
What This Means For Workers And Employers
The Triangle’s climb lines up with other measures of momentum. CBRE reported that Raleigh-Durham improved its rank on the firm’s North American tech-talent leaderboard and saw its tech workforce grow by roughly 18% between 2018 and 2023. For jobseekers, that typically translates into more openings and above-average pay for the South, while employers benefit from a steady stream of graduates from NC State, Duke and UNC and an ecosystem that supports startups and expansions…