• by Ray Schultz , February 22, 2021

Looking for higher pay, email techies? The highest tech salaries are still being paid in Silicon Valley and New York City, according to this year’s Dice Tech Salary Report.

Silicon Valley grew by 2.4 to $126,801. New York saw an even bigger leap: 11.6% for an average annual payout of $114.272.  Boston was third: $111.069, a 2.4% boost, and San Diego fourth with a tech salary of $109,910, reflecting an 0.04% hike YoY.  

In contrast, Seattle has fallen by 2.6%, for average compensation of $106,723.

The study notes that Texas is gaining on California, with Austin leaping by 9.7% for an average salary of $104,344. And Los Angeles jumped by 5.4% to $103,150. 

New York and Austin, the cities with the biggest increases, “enjoyed substantial tech company investment throughout 2020, and local companies are clearly having to pay more in order to draw in top talent, even if the talent in question is working from home for at least a few months longer,” the study notes. 

At the same time, several locales saw a decline in pay: Portland, Oregon, Chicago, St. Louis and Tampa, Florida. 

The average salary in Chicago is now $94,581 -- a 0.01% decline. 

Dice speculates that tech personnel may choose to live in less expensive cities.

“If technologists didn’t have to live in a high-cost area such as Silicon Valley in order to do their jobs effectively, would they stay, or would they move somewhere with a more reasonable cost of living?” it writes. 

The study continues: “The tech industry has debated that question for a long time. Given the rise of remote work and smaller tech hubs across the country, we may have a more definitive answer within a few years.” 

The biggest salary — $143,416 — is being paid to IT management executives, those at the “C” or VP level. However, pay declined by 1.7%. 

The biggest increases went to cybersecurity analysts (a 16.3% boost to $103,106) and data scientists (a 12.2% spike to $119,877). And development engineers enjoyed a spike of 12.2% to $115,125.