Software Engineering in the US: Talent and Jobs.
Approximately 100,000 computer science majors graduate in the US each year. Discover where most of them come from, and their job prospects. Identify talent hubs, cities with the most job opportunities, in-demand skills and salary progression patterns.
We analyzed data from*Key Insights
High Talent Demand
10.8
Jobs per graduate
Solid Career Prospects
39%
Listed jobs are entry level
High Average Salaries
$129k
Average salary
Where are US computer science graduates coming from?
States producing the most CS grads
The top 3 states producing the most CS grads are California (17,309), Texas (10,568), and New York (10,416). These states have been talent powerhouses for decades.
However, if we analyze the number of CS grads per 10,000 people, a different picture emerges.
New Hampshire, with 14.7 grads per 10,000 people, takes the top spot, followed closely by Utah with 13.8, and Kentucky with 9.8. These states, though smaller, are still making significant contributions to the tech talent pool.
Top US cities producing the most CS grads
While some may assume the San Francisco Bay Area produces the most CS graduates due to a high concentration of institutions in the top 50, it actually only accounts for about 1.7% of the total, through the combination of San Francisco, Berkeley, and San Jose.
Despite being the state with the largest population, Los Angeles was the only city in California to make it into the top 10.
Instead, an unexpected contender is out-producing the Bay Area. With a whopping 4,518 CS grads, Atlanta, Georgia was number one on the list. It produced 39% more grads than New York City (3,240 grads) and 69% more than Boston (2,671 grads).
Top US institutions producing the most CS grads
Among the top 20 institutions, those in the Northeast produced the most CS grads (7,476 grads, or 29.4% of the total).
This was followed by 5,588 CS grads from Southern institutions (22% of total), 4,369 grads from West Coast ones (17.2%), 4,259 grads from Midwestern (16.8%), and 3,723 grads from Southwestern ones (14.6% of total).
Institutions from every corner of the US are producing CS grads. This diverse talent landscape means employers don't need to look far to recruit new grads.
In-demand skills & job market outlook.
Local grads vs. job demand across the US
Across the US, there's a lot of variance when it comes to the jobs-to-graduate ratio.
For example, Alaska (a potential outlier) comes in at number one, with an astonishing 68.3 jobs per CS grad.
In contrast, popular tech hubs like California, New York, and Texas face stiffer competition.
California, despite having 140,582 job listings, has a ratio of 8.1 jobs per graduate. New York, with 66,172 job listings, has a ratio of 6.3. Although Texas leads with the most job listings (152,090), it only yields 14.3 jobs per graduate.
Top 25 most in-demand technical skills
We analyzed 1.48M software engineering job listings to find the 25 most in-demand skills and technologies. Java came in at number one - 77k, or 28.6% of all job postings mentioned this skill.
Oracle Technologies came in second with 26.5k mentions (about 65% less than Java).
Top 50 US cities for software engineering job opportunities
CS grads rejoice. You don't necessarily need to relocate to San Francisco and pay triple the rent. Dream job opportunities abound in many cities with a much lower cost of living.
Austin (34.9k), Atlanta (33.1k) and Dallas (29.6k) are emerging tech hubs bursting with software engineering career opportunities.
In addition, 23 of the top 50 cities were located in the South, which accounted for nearly a quarter (22.6%) of total software engineering job listings in the US.
Average salary and job availability by education level
More than 800,000 software engineering job listings don't specify a certain education level. However, that doesn't necessarily imply the job won't require a degree. Of the listings that do require a degree, the most frequently mentioned was a bachelor's degree (447k listings).
It should come as no surprise that in the software engineering world, the higher your education, the bigger the paycheck.
While jobs requiring only a high school education offer around $82k on average, listings that mention a PhD will offer, on average, $151k. That's an 84% increase in earning potential.
Salaries by seniority
Earning potential is an essential factor to consider when laying the groundwork for a career in software engineering. This chart shows the average salaries for software engineers at different stages of their career.
There's a significant salary difference between someone who's just starting out (~$61k) and the most seasoned pros ($200k+).
While the average entry-level software engineer can expect to earn $108k, that figure jumps to $159k for senior tech talent, representing a massive 47% increase.
Percentage of jobs that are remote by state
Remote work remains popular among US computer science grads and tech professionals. In 2023, there were 177,002 listings for remote software engineering jobs. This represents about 12% of all posted software engineering jobs.
California (13,552 openings), Texas (13,302 openings), and Florida (9,703 openings) had the highest number of remote software engineering job openings. However, it's important to note that they also had the most overall published job listings.
Proportionately speaking, remote jobs only represented 9% of total jobs in Texas, 10% for California, and 14% for Florida. Therefore, percentage-wise, California, Texas, and Florida actually had some of the lowest ratios of remote job openings.
Despite having fewer overall job postings, states like Louisiana, Idaho, and Alaska had the highest ratios of remote positions (28%, 26%, and 25%, respectively).
Compare between states.
Where are the most promising opportunities? Find out how different hubs compare in terms of job availability, cost of living, and earning potential.
*Calculated based on US average of 100. Numbers higher than 100 relate to a higher cost of living.
Back to topExplore a detailed breakdown by state.
