the new tech cities

2 Dallas neighbors rank among top 10 best U.S. cities for tech workers

North Texas has two of the top cities for tech workers.

Gaining and maintaining a level of success in the ever-changing tech industry often hinges on the environment one lives and works in, and two North Texas cities are among the best: Plano and Frisco.

Plano's new elite tech city status comes from a new report "The Top Tech Cities in the US: Ranking 100 Cities in 2024" by online security experts Cloudwards. They examined 100 tech-reliant cities in the nation across 17 key indicators, including salaries for information technology professionals, a city's cost of living, internet quality, job opportunities and tech-related companies, and more.

Plano is the No. 4 best tech city in the nation and the best in Texas (event outshining Austin, which ranked No. 7). Frisco came in at No. 10.

Here's how Plano stacked up in the major categories in the study:

No. 1 – Internet Coverage and Quality
No. 2 – Cost of Living and Tech Salaries
No. 25 – Innovation and Entrepreneurship
No. 33 – Career and Education
No. 59 – Tech Community

Over 1,000 tech companies reside in Plano, the study found, including major employers like McAfee and CompuCom Systems Inc. The report additionally found there were 619 IT-related jobs advertised in the city in January 2024, or about 213 open positions per 100,000 city residents.

With a lot of employers still embracing remote work, having a good wifi connection can make or break a person's ability to work from home. The study found about 96 percent of Plano households have internet access, which is a must in today's internet-dependent workforce. The city has the best internet download speeds in the nation, at 216.25 Mbps, while the city's median broadband internet speed is 249.02 Mbps.

IT professionals in Plano make an average salary of $95,733 per year, which is another attractive selling point for the city and its livability factor, the study said.

"...Plano offers a perfect blend of urban and suburban, and it’s a great place to live, start a family or retire," the report's author wrote. "The city ranks high in the livability index, emerging second overall due to low crime rates and a relatively low cost of living."

Plano wasn't the only North Texas city to earn a spot among the top 10. Frisco ranked No. 10 in the nation, earning the title as "the most livable city in the U.S." according to Cloudwards.

"IT professionals make up the second-largest occupation set in this North Texas city, making up about 12 percent of the total workforce," the report said. "Its low tax rate, low crime rate and reasonable cost of living make it a popular choice for IT professionals."

Average salaries for IT professionals in Frisco come out to about $95,516 annually, which is only a $217 difference from Plano. Frisco also has a lower crime rate than Plano, at 10.56 per 1,000 residents, compared to Plano's 18.3 per 1,000 residents.

In a separate recent study, Frisco had the second largest remote workforce in the U.S.

Here's how other North Texas cities fared outside the top 10:

No. 16 – Arlington
No. 21 – Garland
No. 29 – Fort Worth
No. 33 – Dallas
No. 38 – Irving

Nationally, the cities that round out the top five most tech-savvy cities in the U.S. are New York City, New York (No. 1), Washington, D.C. (No. 2), San Francisco, California (No. 3), and Jersey City, New Jersey (No. 5).

plano frisco innovation technology reports

cyber commute

Frisco tops 2026 list of U.S. cities with the most remote workers

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Remote work really is all that and a bag of chips.

North Dallas neighbor Frisco has landed atop a 2026 list of U.S. cities with the most remote workers for the second consecutive year, and an up-and-coming McKinney has surged into the top 10.

The personal finance experts at SmartAsset compared the 357 largest U.S. cities based on the percentage of people who work from home, and additionally calculated the mean commute times for non-remote workers in each city. Remote work prevalence was analyzed using U.S. Census data from 2023-2024.

The findings revealed a third of all employees based in Frisco work remotely, with more than 42,000 remote workers as of 2024. However, the city's remote work prevalence is slightly lower than it was the year before.

"Frisco remains the top city for remote work with 33.7 percent of workers aged 16 and up working from home, despite a slight decline from 34.2 percent a year earlier," the report said.

Frisco residents that don't have the privilege of working remotely spend about 27.3 minutes on average commuting to their workplaces, SmartAsset added. Over 63 percent of Frisco workers drive to their jobs, and less than one percent walk to work.

In McKinney, the prevalence of remote workers in the city surged from 24.2 percent in 2023 to 26.7 percent in 2024. The report additionally found there were 32,798 residents working remotely in McKinney in 2024.

McKinney workers also spend more time commuting than Frisco residents do. The average commute time for in-person work in the city added up to 31.8 minutes. Nearly 70 percent of workers drive to their jobs, and .69 percent report that they walk to work.

Nationally, remote work has declined as more employers push return-to-office mandates, according to SmartAsset. But new reports have indicated these mandates are backfiring as more people seek employment at companies that embrace and prioritize flexible working environments.

"Remote work can open up a lot of opportunities for employees, families, and employers alike," the report's author wrote. "However, shifts into remote work may also cause short-term challenges to some communities – such as loss or redistribution of businesses and services used by commuters."

For remote workers in Dallas-Fort Worth, there's a greater financial incentive to work remote than to commute. An April 2025 U.S. Census Bureau study determined remote workers in the Metroplex earn nearly 51 percent more than their commuting counterparts. Dallas-area remote workers made a median income of $77,000 in 2023, compared to $51,100 for other workers.

"Tradeoffs abound, tracking the evolution of work culture and where the spoils of productivity end up can provide guidance to businesses, politicians, job-seekers, and employers alike," the report said.

The top 10 U.S. cities with the most prevalent remote workforces are:

No. 1 – Frisco, Texas
No. 2 – Berkeley, California
No. 3 – Cary, North Carolina
No. 4 – Boulder, Colorado
No. 5 – Scottsdale, Arizona
No. 6 – Arlington, Virginia
No. 7 – McKinney, Texas
No. 8 – Fishers, Indiana
No. 9 – Boca Raton, Florida
No. 10 – Carlsbad, California

frisco mckinney suburbs remote work innovation smartasset

the new tech cities

2 Dallas neighbors rank among top 10 best U.S. cities for tech workers

cyber commute

Frisco tops 2026 list of U.S. cities with the most remote workers

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