Are you a current IT professional, or considering taking the plunge to become one? If you're reading this, hopefully you are. It can be a very rewarding profession with a high income potential, as well as low stress and high satisfaction. NterOne has conducted a study based on data provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and created a formula to analyze and rank the best States and Localities to pursue a career in IT. IT professionals are in demand, and will always be a growing field due to the advances in technology used in business. Here at NterOne, we provide the training to become an expert in IT through our certifications and advanced training. We hope you love technology as much as we do, and this research gives you insight on why you should become an IT pro.

Segmented Rankings

Which States Employ the Most IT Pros (by Volume)?

State Employment (by volume) 1. California 42050 2.Texas 33820 3. New York 23180 4. Virginia 19760 5. Florida 14720

Which States Employ the Most IT Pros (in comparison to the national average)?

State Employment (in comp. to natl. avg.) 1. Virginia 2x 2. Vermont 1.89x 3. District of Columbia 1.85x 4. Maryland 1.75x 5. Colorado 1.61x

How Much do IT Pros Make in Each State (by annual mean wage)?

State Annual mean wage 1. Maryland $96,500 2. Virginia $89,930 3. District of Columbia $89,070 4. New Jersey $88,850 5. California $88,470

Which Areas Employ the Most IT Pros (by Volume)?

Metropolitan area Employment (by volume) 1. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Division 16670 2. New York-White Plains-Wayne, NY-NJ Metropolitan Division 15270 3. Dallas-Plano-Irving, TX Metropolitan Division 10670 4. Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, IL Metropolitan Division 10250 5. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA Metropolitan Division 10010

Which Areas Employ the Most IT Pros (in comparison to the national average)?

Metropolitan area Employment (in comp. to natl. avg.) 1. Burlington-South Burlington, VT 2.71x 2. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metro 2.59x 3. Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL 2.44x 4. Boulder, CO 2.43x 5. Bethesda-Rockville-Frederick, MD Metropolitan Division 2.27x

How Much do IT Pros Make in Each Area (by annual mean wage)?

Metropolitan area Annual mean wage 1. Bethesda-Rockville-Frederick, MD Metropolitan Division $101,100 2. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA $100,100 3. Cleveland, TN $98,410 4. San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, CA Metropolitan Division $97,910 5. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Division $95,760

Overall Rankings

These are the overall rankings by state and by area. The crown goes to Virginia for best state to live in for an IT pro, and the DC Metro Area takes the crown for best area to live in.

Ranking by State 1 Virginia 2 Maryland 3 Vermont

Ranking by Area 1 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metro 2 Burlington-South Burlington, VT 3 Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL

Complete State Rankings

These are the complete state rankings, with the higher score being a better ranking. As you can see, Virginia, Maryland, and Vermont, all came in the top 3 state rankings. North Dakota, West Virginia, and Mississippi were the bottom 3 states in the rankings.

Rank State Score 1 Virginia 103.1718 2 Maryland 64.84525 3 Vermont 58.75066 4 District of Columbia 55.33854 5 Colorado 54.48128 6 Kansas 37.0293 7 South Dakota 32.81392 8 Nebraska 31.28473 9 Alaska 31.04668 10 Rhode Island 30.6577 11 Texas 30.45852 12 Minnesota 29.14587 13 Missouri 26.42063 14 Georgia 22.47633 15 Utah 20.65062 16 Arizona 20.60212 17 Massachusetts 20.33696 18 North Carolina 19.63788 19 Illinois 19.14222 20 New Hampshire 19.10643 21 Ohio 18.80536 22 California 18.72994 23 Washington 18.49172 24 Pennsylvania 18.16246 25 Wisconsin 17.78753 26 Delaware 17.61336 27 Idaho 17.39389 28 Alabama 17.25608 29 Iowa 17.24069 30 New Jersey 16.71826 31 Michigan 16.01179 32 Indiana 15.63653 33 New York 15.41682 34 Arkansas 14.30989 35 New Mexico 13.40525 36 Connecticut 12.03483 37 South Carolina 11.91497 38 Tennessee 11.05705 39 Maine 11.0508 40 Florida 10.962 41 Oregon 10.14027 42 Kentucky 9.023096 43 Louisiana 7.086929 44 Oklahoma 7.063735 45 Hawaii 6.82356 46 Wyoming 6.716826 47 Nevada 5.434047 48 Montana 3.763671 49 Mississippi 3.574227 50 West Virginia 3.221511 51 North Dakota 3.00317

Complete Area Rankings

These are the top 50 area rankings, with the higher score being a better ranking. As you can see, Washington DC Metro, Burlington, and Palm Bay all came in the top 3 are rankings.

Rank Area Score 1 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metro 173.8857 2 Burlington-South Burlington, VT 165.6357 3 Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL 153.7502 4 Bethesda-Rockville-Frederick, MD Metropolitan Division 140.5899 5 Boulder, CO 131.7873 6 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA 126.0972 7 San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, CA Metro 82.04231 8 Baltimore-Towson, MD 81.60337 9 Ithaca, NY 79.85534 10 Denver-Aurora-Broomfield, CO 77.337 11 Dallas-Plano-Irving, TX Metropolitan Division 72.32111 12 Colorado Springs, CO 70.90065 13 Kansas City, MO-KS 66.64723 14 Framingham, MA NECTA Division 66.55008 15 San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA 66.23164 16 Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX 64.38943 17 Durham-Chapel Hill, NC 57.42337 18 Richmond, VA 57.36505 19 Sioux Falls, SD 56.51838 20 Anchorage, AK 56.08232 21 Fairbanks, AK 55.15896 22 Raleigh-Cary, NC 52.49165 23 Rochester-Dover, NH-ME 51.96363 24 Lynchburg, VA 51.56696 25 Oakland-Fremont-Hayward, CA Metropolitan Division 51.34092 26 Trenton-Ewing, NJ 50.83576 27 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX 50.70302 28 Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR-MO 48.58337 29 Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA 47.57384 30 Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI 44.54566 31 Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA NECTA Division 41.737 32 Lawrence, KS 41.52922 33 Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, MI Metropolitan Division 41.35394 34 Lincoln, NE 40.24885 35 Huntsville, AL 40.06466 36 Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA Metropolitan Division 39.50112 37 Cedar Rapids, IA 38.8963 38 Springfield, IL 37.4161 39 Topeka, KS 37.31464 40 Edison-New Brunswick, NJ Metropolitan Division 36.82045 41 Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA 36.69504 42 Rapid City, SD 36.62454 43 State College, PA 36.40847 44 Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX 36.36987 45 Bloomington, IN 35.61428 46 Manchester, NH 35.44468 47 Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH 33.93462 48 Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC 33.85794 49 Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA 33.0885 50 Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA 33.07385

Data Tables

These are the data points used for each area (in Excel spreadsheet format).

State Data

Area Data

Cost-of-Living Index

Methodology

To rank the top places to become an IT pro, we collected data for all fifty U.S. states as well as Washington D.C., and the top 400 metro areas in the UD, and then applied the following calculation to come up with the scores. The states with the highest scores are considered to be a better area.

Calculations:

JPK x LQ x AAMS / COL = OS

JPK = Jobs per 1,000

How many It Professionals were employed per 1,000 residents.

LQ = Location Quotient

How many people were employed in IT jobs as compared to the national average.

AAMS = Average Annual Mean Salary

Average salary of an IT professional in the area, calculated by mean.

COL = Cost of Living

Cost of living index as of the third quarter of 2015, 100 being national average.

OS = Overall Score

Overall score received after calculations. The higher overall score, the better.