The Western U.S. is the home of the American tech industry. From Silicon Valley to Seattle, the region\u2019s largest metros account for the highest concentrations of tech jobs and the deepest patent records in the country. But, the West\u2019s tech scene is no longer just a coastal one. Now, smaller and mid-size metros across Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, and Oregon are now among the fastest-growing tech markets in the country with the kind of conditions, low costs, strong universities, and aggressive recruitment from local economic development agencies that increasingly draw both companies and workers away from the coast.<\/p>\n
With that in mind, we set out to rank the Western metros with the best conditions for the tech industry \u2014 and the workers it depends on \u2014 to thrive. Specifically, we evaluated every metro area in the region with a population above 200,000 for which all data was available (more than 70 metros in total) and awarded points across metrics covering the density and growth of tech establishments; the density and growth of tech employment; median tech earnings and their growth; a composite life-quality index; and five-year patent output. The 20 metros that rose to the top of that pool are profiled below.<\/p>\n
San Jose, Calif.,<\/strong> rose to the top of the West with 73 points out of 100 to finish nearly 20 points ahead of San Francisco on the strength of its tech workforce. In San Jose, some 15% of all jobs in the metro sit in computer and mathematical roles (the only figure in the study above 10%). Additionally, median tech wages hit $196,595 \u2014 the highest in the West \u2014 and the metro placed second on educational attainment.<\/p>\n San Jose firms were also granted roughly 67,000 USPTO patents between 2020 and 2024, which was nearly double the next metro on the list.<\/p>\n