IT professionals have long known that the best salaries are in the biggest cities where there are big companies and big computer networks. At least that’s the conventional wisdom. TechRepublic’s 2008 IT Skills and Salary Report calls that thinking into question.
One of the most surprising data points in the report is average salary by U.S. city. The top two cities on the list are Dallas, Texas ($79,783) and Columbus, Ohio ($79,421). New York City ($78,278) is No. 3, but Chicago ($72,477) is just 18th on the list and Los Angeles ($71,972) is all the way down at No. 20. Tech hotbeds San Francisco ($74,016) and San Jose ($75,754) are 16th and 12th, respectively.
Besides Dallas and Columbus, there were a few other surprises in the top 10. St. Louis ($77,350) came in at No. 6, Baltimore ($77,084) was No. 8, and Sacramento ($76,566) was No. 10.
Here’s the full list of the top 20:
You can also download the full 2008 IT Skills and Salary Report:
