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

THE FUTURE IS NOW

Self-driving Waymo robotaxis can now be hailed in Dallas

Waymo/ FacebookWa

Waymo is now offering driverless rides to San Antonians.

Waymo will begin dispatching its robotaxis in Dallas and four more cities in Texas and Florida, expanding the territory covered by its fleet of self-driving cars to 10 major U.S. metropolitan markets.

The move into Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Orlando, Florida, announced Tuesday, February 24, widens Waymo's early lead in autonomous driving while rival services from Tesla and the Amazon-owned Zoox are still testing their vehicles in only a few U.S. cities.

In contrast, Waymo's robotaxis already provide more than 400,000 weekly trips in the six metropolitan areas where they have been transporting passengers: Phoenix, the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta, and Austin.

Waymo operates its ride-hailing service through its own app in all the U.S. cities except Atlanta and Austin, where its robotaxis can only be summoned through Uber's ride-hailing service.

In Dallas, they'll partner with Avis, according to a release — offering their ride-hailing service through the Waymo app, with a fleet managed through a new multi-year partnership with Avis Budget Group, whose expertise will help Waymo scale the Waymo Driver even faster.

Avis will provide end-to-end fleet management services, including infrastructure, vehicle readiness, maintenance, and general depot operations.

Dallas' downtown metro area is considered well suited for Waymo's 24/7 autonomous ride-hailing service. They also aim to improve road safety and partner with the city of Dallas on its "Vision Zero" plan to eliminate all traffic-related deaths and reduce severe injury crashes by 50 percent by 2030.

The expansion into four more markets marks a significant step toward Waymo's goal to surpass 1 million weekly paid trips by the end of 2026. Without identifying where its robotaxis will be available next, Waymo is targeting a list of eight other cities that include Las Vegas, Washington, Detroit, and Boston while signaling its first overseas availability is likely to be London.

To help pay for more robotaxis, Waymo recently raised $16 billion as part of the financial infusion that puts the value of the company at $126 billion. The valuation fueled speculation that Waymo may eventually be spun off from its corporate parent Alphabet, where it began as a secret project within Google in 2009.

Although Waymo is opening up in four more cities, its robotaxis initially will only be made available to a limited number of people with its ride-hailing app in Dallas, San Antonio, Houston, and Orlando before the service will be available to all corners in those markets.

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Teresa Gubbins contributed to this story.

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