Business Insider India has updated its Privacy and Cookie policy. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the better experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we\'ll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on the Business Insider India website. However, you can change your cookie setting at any time by clicking on our Cookie Policy at any time. You can also see our Privacy Policy.
Forget San Francisco or Seattle - these are the 10 most affordable cities to find a good-paying job as a programmer
Forget San Francisco or Seattle - these are the 10 most affordable cities to find a good-paying job as a programmer
Bani SapraJan 18, 2020, 19:56 IST
Skyrocketing costs of living may have made traditional tech hubs like San Francisco less appealing for tech workers, but other more affordable opportunities still exist around the country.
A new study by coding boot camp Coding Dojo ranks cities by weighing the cost of living versus the number of available job postings for developers.
The ten highest-ranked cities are largely the suburbs of large tech hubs, but include some surprising outposts in places like Alabama or Missouri.
For programmers, developers, and software engineers of all sorts, it's increasingly unnecessary to live in a tech hub like San Francisco or Seattle - which is good news, as the cost of living in each city only continues to skyrocket.
A new research report from coding bootcamp Coding Dojo ranked American cities by weighing their cost of living versus the number of open job postings for entry-level and mid-career developers within a 25-mile radius.
Coding Dojo says it assigned a composite score to cities based on the number of open developer postings on job site Indeed, and its cost of living using the median rent of a two-bedroom apartment, as calculated by cost comparison site NerdWallet.
Advertisement
Here are the ten cheapest American cities with the most opportunity for developers:
Vallejo, California, is the only San Francisco Bay Area city to make Coding Dojo's list. The city is small, housing just 125,000 people, and is perhaps best-known as the home of the amusement park Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.
It may have made Coding Dojo's cut because San Francisco proper and its environs is within the 25-mile radius it used to tally open job postings for developers.
But the city also has big ambitions for its nascent tech scene, and bid against giants like New York and Chicago when Amazon began its hunt for HQ2, a second headquarters.
But the job marketplace for entry and mid-level jobs has plenty of room to grow. Most recently, Apple announced that it will invest $1 billion in a new campus in North Austin, potentially adding close to 15,000 more workers in the city.
8. Huntsville, Alabama
Median rent: $858
Open entry-level jobs: 164
Open mid-level jobs: 570
Huntsville, Alabama is ranked as the most affordable city for developers to live, thanks to a $858 monthly rent.
The city, which can be found in northern Alabama close to the Tennessee border, has been considered a 'tech center' since the 1960s, back when NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center was founded.
But while it houses a number of technical jobs, relatively fewer developer jobs appear to be available compared to the rest of the list.
7. Minneapolis, Minnesota
Median rent: $1,189
Open entry-level jobs: 408
Open mid-level jobs: 1,250
The growth of high-tech jobs in Minneapolis spurred the local government into action: The city now offers trainings, support and scholarships to low-income job seekers as a part of a mission to bridge a skills gap and allow its workers to participate in the high tech economy, the city website's TechHire initiative says.
6. Newark, New Jersey
Median rent: $1,830
Open entry-level jobs: 1,654
Open mid-level jobs: 5,195
The industrial city of Newark, New Jersey — close to New York City, and home to Newark Liberty International Airport — is gaining a reputation as home to a buzzy tech ecosystem.
The city houses the headquarters of audio industry giant Audible, as well as a number of smaller startups. The $45 million early-stage venture capital fund Newark Venture Partners has also helped grow a number of early-stage startups.
And that tech ecosystem has translated into a number of open and available jobs, perhaps also benefiting from its close proximity to the five boroughs of NYC. The city ranks highest in offering open entry-level jobs (and ranks second-highest for offering mid-level jobs), according to Coding Dojo's report.
5. Lowell, Massachusetts
Median rent: $1,541
Open entry-level jobs: 1,260
Open mid-level jobs: 3,661
Massachusetts has a thriving technology industry, thanks to the efforts of technically-oriented students and alumni at MIT and Harvard.
So it is perhaps unsurprising that the city of Lowell, Massachusetts, made Coding Dojo's list. Just a 35 minute drive away from Boston and Cambridge, the city would seem to offer an easy commute to tech workers looking to live there.
But it also independently hosts a number of developer jobs. Notably, the workforce management cloud provider Kronos is based in Lowell.
4. Atlanta, Georgia
Median rent: $1,215
Open entry-level jobs: 635
Open mid-level jobs: 1,912
Atlanta is the largest city in the state of Georgia, and its balance of a reasonable rent and a decent number of open jobs is winning over people leaving the West Coast and coming to the South.
A number of companies - including unicorns like MailChimp and Rubicon Global - have based their headquarters in Atlanta.
The city is also home to the Georgia Institute of Technology (more popularly known as Georgia Tech), which provides it with a reliable source of potential talent for startups.
3. St. Louis, MO
Median rent: $878
Open entry-level jobs: 321
Open mid-level jobs: 828
Missouri's second-biggest metropolis is one of the most affordable places for developers to live, with a median rent of $878 per month.
The home of General Motors and Ford, Detroit has long been recognized as the heart of the American auto industry.
But available job postings in the city - especially at a mid-level - suggest that the city's landscape may begin to change over the next few years.
This change comes alongside the auto industry's push to embrace Silicon Valley innovation, including General Motors move to develop an electric line of cars to rival Tesla, amid a larger focus on self-driving cars and other autonomous vehicles.
1. Bremerton, Washington
Median rent: $1,334
Open entry-level jobs: 1,371
Open mid-level jobs: 6,720
Bremerton, Washington is a one hour ferry-ride away from downtown Seattle, according to the city website.
But the distance from expensive Seattle doesn't appear to have significantly dented the career opportunities available for developers. Coding Dojo ranks Bremerton as #1 in open mid-level job postings.
Here's a birds-eye look at the 10 cities on the map.
