In an annual ranking of the top 50 markets for tech talent in the country, Newark ranks 13th–up six places since last year. The ranking, conducted by LA-based real estate firm CBRE and called the Tech Talent Scorecard, relies on 13 criteria and Newark’s slide up the scale is in part due to an increase in average tech salary to $107,000 in 2016. Other criteria include tech job outlook and an increase in office space and apartment rentals.
The San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, New York, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Toronto, Raleigh-Durham, Austin, Boston, and Dallas/Ft. Worth round out the top ten. Newark is just behind Denver and just ahead of Orange County, California. And Newark is the only New Jersey town mentioned in the ranking.
Contributing factors to Newark’s rising status as a top tech city include the fact that the city is home to the Rutgers University New Jersey Institute of Technology campus. Also, Brick City’s Mayor Ras Baraka and his administration have made a concerted effort to grow Newark by investing in tech infrastructure. Newark Fiber, which provides fast and cheap internet access to commercial buildings and tenants, has a plan to install 50 digital kiosks throughout the city, and tech centers that provide the public with digital skills.
Mayor Baraka said he was “delighted but not surprised” by Newark’s rise in the rankings. “The Scorecard reflects the success of Newark’s conscious strategy to become a national technology center…and an East Coast Silicon Valley.”
