‘Favorable alternative’

Dallas-Fort Worth outranks Silicon Valley in new report of best tech cities

DFW jumped from No. 7 last year to No. 2 this year.

Photo by Joe Daniel Price/Getty Images

As a tech hub, Dallas-Fort Worth outshines the San Francisco Bay Area this year. DFW ranks second on a list of the best tech towns in the U.S., with both Silicon Valley and San Francisco slipping in the third annual ranking.

Neighboring Austin ranked No. 1.

Based on job-posting data from August 2019 to July 2020, the CompTIA trade group looked at 20 metro areas with populations over 250,000 and where demand for tech workers is greatest. CompTIA then ranked the metros on cost of living, number of postings for IT jobs, and projected IT job growth over the next year as well as the next five years.

DFW jumped from No. 7 last year to No. 2 this year. CompTIA attributes DFW’s leap to the sheer number of IT jobs available (178,579 job postings last year), with projections of more to come (3 percent growth from 2020 to 2021 and 11 percent in the next five years).

The median salary for IT professionals in DFW is $94,044. CompTIA says the cost of living in DFW sits 2 percent below the national average.

The trade group identifies these companies that are aggressively hiring IT professionals in DFW:

Lockheed Martin
JPMorgan Chase
USAA
Citi
Deloitte
Verizon
Wells Fargo
IBM
NTT Data
InfoVision

“In short, the conventional technology enterprises have set the tone for the Dallas tech scene,” the report says, “while emerging technology companies are taking it to the next level.”

Texas' capital city ranked first in CompTIA’s 2019 and 2020 reports and third in the inaugural 2018 report, besting Silicon Valley every year. By comparison, San Jose, California, holds the No. 4 spot this year, down one spot from 2019 while San Francisco appears at No. 7 this year, down from No. 5 the year before.

“Home to 5,500 startups and tech companies, Austin has become a favorable alternative to the Bay Area and New York City for companies of all sizes that are looking to grow,” CompTIA says in its Tech Town Index report, released November 10.

CompTIA says more than 100 tech companies have relocated to the Austin area in the past two years, adding more than 4,600 jobs. IT job postings continue to grow in the region, with a year-over-year increase of 19,000 jobs. The group notes that the Austin area remains one of best places to live in terms of cost of living — about 4 percent below the national average and the fourth most affordable market among the 20 metros on this year’s index.

Over the next five years, CompTIA predicts IT job growth of 16 percent job in the Austin area. The region’s median salary for tech professionals is $87,880.

Here are the top 10 metros in this year’s Tech Town Index:

Austin
Dallas-Fort Worth
Raleigh, North Carolina
San Jose, California
Charlotte, North Carolina
Seattle
San Francisco
Atlanta
Huntsville, Alabama
Denver

Coworking News

New coworking space to open in Dallas' Oak Lawn neighborhood

Office Evolution

A coworking space is opening in Dallas in a central location: Office Evolution, a Louisville-based coworking chain, will open what a release says is a "state-of-the-art coworking space" at 3500 Oak Lawn Ave. #360 in Dallas at the southeast corner of Lemmon Avenue.

No details on what makes it state-of-the-art, but construction is ongoing and an opening is anticipated in mid-October.

Office Evolution was founded in 2003 as a shared workspace-coworking environment, cultivated on the principles of "Ohana," the Hawaiian tradition that references family working toward a common goal. (The founder was from Hawaii.)

The company started out in Boulder, Colorado, then relocated its headquarters to Louisville. It's an affiliated brand of United Franchise Group, and is part of The Vast Coworking Group, which specializes in franchising within the coworking industry. All of their locations are franchised.

The Dallas location is owned by franchisee Michael Pickering, a Dallas native who runs a family-owned indoor soccer facility in Dallas. (There are two other Office Evolution locations in the DFW area in McKinney and Southlake, owned by different franchisees.)

They're describing the Dallas location at 3500 Oak Lawn Ave. as "Turtle Creek," although its location at Oak Lawn and Lemmon really puts it at the epicenter of Oak Lawn. (To further complicate matters, the building previously and incorrectly described its address as "Uptown.")

It's a seven-story building in which the majority of tenants are doctor and medical offices.

Office Evolution rates include a coworking day pass for $25, plus "flex" office options starting at $200 a month for 20 hours, up to $550 a month for 80 hours.

Amenities of the building that are also accessible to Office Evolution customers include a front desk; a 1,000-square-foot fitness center; covered parking; and on-site security six days a week.

According to a spokesperson, Pickering and his team put $1.2 million into the renovation to transform the space, which occupies most of the fourth floor where it will span 9,240 square feet of space with 41 total offices — one of which is earmarked as an "on-demand office" for the professional on the go.

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