Press Releases

State ranks ninth in tech employment, third in innovation

Seattle – Washington’s technology industry employment grew by an estimated 4.9 percent in 2016 as employers added some 10,600 new jobs, according to Cyberstates 2017™, the definitive annual analysis of the nation’s tech industry released today by CompTIA, the world’s leading technology association.

With an estimated 226,452 workers, Washington ranks ninth among the 50 states for tech industry employment.

Technology occupations across all other industries in Washington – the second component of the tech workforce – reached an estimated 236,000 in 2016.

The tech sector accounts for an estimated 13.2 percent ($58.9 billion) of the Washington economy.

The annualized average wage for a Washington tech industry worker was an estimated $134,800 in 2016, 133 percent higher than the average state wage ($57,800). Washington ranks second nationwide in average tech industry wages.

Other Key Findings

• Washington ranks third among all states in the Cyberstates 2017 Innovation Score, which is based on an analysis of new tech patents, tech startups and new tech business establishments on a per capita basis.
• The state is home to an estimated 13,362 tech business establishments. About 9,200 of those business are located in the Seattle metropolitan area.
• The tech industry employs an estimated 7.1 percent of the overall state workforce.
• Leading tech occupations include application software developers (53,170), computer systems analysts (17,800) and computer user support specialists (14,920).
• The strongest year-over-year job growth occurred in the categories of Internet services (+ 23.4 percent), computer systems design and IT services (+ 9.1 percent) and packaged software (+ 4.3 percent).
• Employers posted more than 16,500 job openings for tech occupations in Q4 2016. An estimated 13,845 of those postings were in the Seattle market.

“The Cyberstates data affirms the strength and vitality of Washington’s tech industry, and attests to its essential standing in the economy,” said Todd Thibodeaux, president and CEO, CompTIA. “Technology enables innovation and generates growth for companies, regardless of their size, locale or markets served.”

Cyberstates 2017 is based on CompTIA’s analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, EMSI, and other sources. Estimates for 2016 are subject to change as government data is revised and updated. The complete report with full national, state and metropolitan level data is available at http://www.cyberstates.org/.

CompTIA: Building the Foundation for Technology's Future
The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) is the world's leading technology association, with approximately 2,000 member companies, 3,000 academic and training partners, over 100,000 registered users and more than two million IT certifications issued. CompTIA's unparalleled range of programs foster workforce skills development and generate critical knowledge and insight – building the foundation for technology’s future. Visit CompTIA online, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to learn more. 

Contact:
Preston Grisham
CompTIA
[email protected]
(202) 862-4458

Steven Ostrowski
CompTIA
[email protected]
(630) 678-8468