Every year, thousands of people learn tech skills to break into the industry, and start a new career. However, if you're from a small town, there might not be that many jobs.
So the question then becomes:
"If I was willing to relocate, where in the US actually gives me the best shot?"
And the default answer that everyone gives is always the same:
- San Francisco
- New York
- Austin
i.e the big tech hubs that everyone knows about.
But what if that conventional wisdom is wrong?
To find out, we manually collected entry-level tech job data across 344 US cities and cross referenced that against population size and cost of living to calculate our own "ZTM Best Beginner Tech City Score" to rank the best US cities to start a tech career.
The results surprised us, and we think they'll surprise you too.
Because those 3 hubs we just mentioned? Only San Francisco makes the top #10 on our list, while Austin is 44th and New York is 215th!
Let's get into it...
Here is a summary of our key findings
- We analyzed 344 US cities. Only 38 made the cut.
That’s just 11% which seems bad at first, until you realize it also means there are 38 real entry-level tech markets across 20 states. In other words: your best shot may not be in the obvious places.
- Every qualifying city has a major university or research institution nearby.
That’s a strong signal these aren’t random hiring spikes, but ecosystems with staying power.
- Junior tech jobs aren’t only coming from “tech companies”.
Aerospace, defence, and healthcare are creating some of the strongest entry-level markets, often in cities most applicants completely overlook.
- The top 5 cities by ZTM Score: Santa Clara, Inglewood, Cambridge, Boulder, and Huntsville.
Only one is in Silicon Valley. Why? Because raw job count doesn’t always equal your best chance of actually getting hired.
- Alabama ranks #2 by average ZTM Score. Colorado has the most qualifying cities with 11.
Not exactly the places most people think of first for tech careers, which is exactly why they’re interesting.
- A Junior Software Engineer in Huntsville keeps $55,555 after living costs.
The same role in Santa Clara leaves just $3,838, despite paying $18,000 more in salary. In some cities, the salary barely clears rent.
- When we ranked all 38 cities by take-home pay, cost of living, and job volume, the winners were surprising.
Huntsville leads, while Durham, Pittsburgh, and Olathe all leave Junior Software Engineers with over $48,000 after living costs.
- Choosing the right city could mean 100x less competition. One Huntsville role had just 52 applicants over 6 months.
A similar San Francisco role had 100 in 3 days. In New York, the same role got 31 applications in 41 minutes.
- California has the most verified entry-level tech roles: 1,283.
Texas follows with 570 and New York with 437. But by average ZTM Score, the top states are Massachusetts, Alabama, and Colorado.
- Some of the best markets are close enough to combine.
Denver, Boulder, and Aurora are all within 40 minutes of each other, with 250+ combined entry-level roles.
- Washington, DC has more verified entry-level cybersecurity roles than New York, Denver, and Boston combined.
For junior cybersecurity talent, DC may be one of the most overlooked markets in the country.
Like I said, these are not the results we were expecting...
You can jump to the breakdowns below, or keep reading and I’ll quickly explain how we found all this data.
How we collected this data
Obviously we didn’t analyze every single city in the US or this would have taken years to put together (and would have given us a lot of locations with zero jobs).
The location list
So instead, we filtered down to only include US cities with a population of at least 100,000 people. This meant they would be large enough to have a genuine job market and the amenities to make relocation worthwhile.
That gave us 344 locations.
Click the image to zoom in, or click here to access the full dataset.
The job search
Next, we searched LinkedIn for entry level tech jobs as a single source of truth with national coverage.
Sidenote: That's why the job numbers are lower in some locations. It's not because there are fewer open tech roles, but because we only included entry-level ones. In some locations they had over 700 senior openings for just the Software Engineering role.
If you want accurate updates on all current tech job postings, be sure to check out my Tech Market Job Trends newsletter each month, where I share the current numbers in each major tech role.
Anyways, back to how we got the data for this report.
Rather than search for every tech role, we filtered to only include listings that were both entry level and onsite, so the data wouldn't be skewed by remote options.
As for the roles themselves, we focused on the 5 key areas people often start out in:
It’s worth pointing out that all of this was done manually without an AI scraping. Trust me, we tried, but the results were useless..
This way we could verify each listing was genuine, even when roles were posted in the wrong location or listed under alternative terms like pen tester.
For example
Cybersecurity appeared as a supplementary skill in far more postings than genuine entry level roles, so we manually filtered to only include the real ones. Otherwise it would be double or triple what we recorded.
The job search radius
We searched each city with an 8km radius to capture jobs on the outskirts, reducing to 0km where cities overlapped to avoid double counting.
For example
NYC and NJ would overlap, so they were reduced it to 0km for locations like this.
Job competition
We used a tight city radius rather than whole metro areas for two reasons.
- First, metro searches surface jobs across multiple cities at once, making it hard to attribute roles to a specific location.
- Second, metro populations include millions of people who would never compete for those roles, which skews the competition data. City-level population gives a much cleaner baseline.
Yes, it's not a perfect measure because not everyone in a city is applying for junior tech roles, and popular tech cities will naturally attract more applicants. But it gave us a consistent proxy across all 344 cities.
We'll show you real application data later that tells an even clearer story.
Cost of living
Finally, for cost of living we used BestPlaces.net, which scores each city against a US national average of 100. Anything above or below represents the percentage difference in costs.
For example
San Francisco scores 245.5 which means that it's 145.5% more expensive than the average US city.
Why include this information?
Because raw job numbers and salaries alone don't tell the full story. What matters is what you actually take home after rent, food, transport and everything else. And as you'll see, that varies enormously across the cities we found.
The ZTM best city for beginner tech score
All of this combined allowed us to score each city on two factors:
- Number of entry level tech jobs per 10,000 residents (60% weighting). More jobs per capita means better odds of getting hired
- Affordability Score (40% weighting). Derived from the cost of living index. Cheaper cities score higher because your salary goes further
We weighted jobs per capita more heavily because no matter how cheap a city is, it doesn't matter if there are no jobs. Also, a city had to score 1.0 or higher to make our list.
Fun fact?
Out of 344 cities, only 38 met that threshold, with just 8 scoring above 2.0 and only 3 breaking above 5.0.
One final note before we get into the results.
This data was collected in May 2026, and like any job market, things change. New industries move into cities, companies expand or contract, and cost of living shifts over time. So while this snapshot is as accurate as we could make it, the landscape may look different in a year or two.
That said, the fundamentals that make a city a strong entry level market (a nearby university, anchor employers, affordable cost of living) tend to be stable over time."
With that out of the way, let's get into the key findings.
Which states have the most opportunity for breaking into entry-level tech careers?
Before I share our top 5 winners, I want to zoom out and cover some interesting things along the way, because they all tie into how our winners were chosen.
So let's start at the state level, because where you choose to base yourself matters and some states have dramatically more opportunity than others. This is also where the common misconceptions arise.
For example
When you look purely at total volume of current open entry level tech jobs, you get the usual suspects:
- California 1,283
- Texas 570
- New York 437
- Colorado 338
- Massachusetts 310
No real surprises there, as the top 3 are the main tech hubs that people think of.
However, having the most jobs doesn't automatically mean the best odds of getting one. Sure California and New York dominate in volume, but they also have some of the highest costs of living and the most competitive hiring markets in the country. (More on this later).
So when we applied our scoring system, which states actually came out on top?
Well then you get a very different picture:
- Massachusetts
- Alabama
- Colorado
- Michigan
- Kansas
Not what you might have thought right?
Now, before you run off and look for jobs in these locations, hold up a second. This assumes you're planning to relocate directly to one of these cities. If you want to live right in the heart of the action, that makes sense.
But if you're open to commuting, the options expand even further, so let's look at those next.
Which location gives you the most options if you're willing to commute?
If you're open to commuting then the picture changes dramatically, because rather than looking at individual cities, you can position yourself within a range of multiple job markets at once.
With that in mind, here are the top 5 'commuting' clusters ranked by combined entry level tech jobs within commuting distance:
#1 Bay Area, California with 688 combined entry level roles
This is the biggest opportunity cluster in the entire country. Santa Clara, San Francisco, Sunnyvale, San Mateo and Fremont are all within 30 to 50 minutes of each other, with a combined 688 verified entry level tech roles.
The catch, as you'll see shortly, is that the entire Bay Area corridor is expensive regardless of where you base yourself. (Even the most affordable cities in this cluster still have a cost of living well above the national average).
But for sheer volume of opportunity, nothing else on this list comes close.
#2 Colorado with 309 combined entry level roles
Colorado is the standout commuter cluster outside California.
- Denver, Boulder and Aurora are all within 40 minutes of each other
- With Colorado Springs adding another 41 roles within 60 minutes
Combined that's 309 verified entry level tech roles within a 60 minute commute, with more available beyond that radius.
But what makes Colorado particularly compelling is the flexibility. You could live somewhere central and commute to Denver for corporate tech roles, Boulder for startup opportunities, or Aurora for cybersecurity and defence work, all while enjoying some of the best outdoor living in the country.
#3 Cambridge and Boston, MA with 287 combined entry level roles
Cambridge and Boston are essentially one market separated by a 10 minute train ride.
- Cambridge brings 115 entry level roles driven by MIT, Harvard and the biotech industry
- Boston adds another 172
Combined that's 287 roles in one of the most intellectually stimulating environments in the country.
The cost of living is high in both cities, but living slightly outside either (in nearby Somerville or Medford for example) can bring costs down meaningfully while keeping you within easy reach of both markets.
#4 Alabama with 132 combined entry level roles
Huntsville and Birmingham are 90 miles apart, about a 90 minute drive.
It's not a daily commute for most people, but worth considering as a relocation option, especially given that both cities are below the national average for cost of living, making Alabama one of the most affordable clusters on this list.
#5 Michigan with 106 combined entry level roles
Michigan doesn't get talked about as a tech destination, which is exactly what makes it interesting.
Dearborn, Sterling Heights, Warren and Ann Arbor are all within 40 minutes of each other in the greater Detroit area, with a combined 106 entry level tech roles.
Of course, knowing where the jobs are is only part of the picture, so let's look into this next.
Where does your money actually go furthest?
Raw salaries are only part of the story, so we decided to dive a little deeper.
- We went through the top 38 cities by ZTM City Score
- Then we found the average salary for a Junior Software Engineer in each of those cities
- As well as the average cost of rent for a single person in those same locations
- Then we sorted that list by job volume
Here's what the top 10 looks like:
Huntsville, Alabama leads by a significant margin. It pays less than the coastal cities, but as you'll see, that's not the whole story.
A Junior Software Engineer here can expect to see around $55,555 left over after paying rent!
Now that might not seem too crazy, until you compare that to the cities with the highest salaries on our list.
For example
San Francisco offers the highest average salary for the role at $111,387. But due to high rent costs, it leaves you with just $2,583 take home at the end of the year:
Not great right?
Simply put, a higher salary doesn't always mean a better financial position, at least not at first. Because when you factor in rent, some of the highest paying cities on our list leave you unable to cover your basic living costs. Meanwhile cities paying $20,000 less in salary leave you with $50,000 more in your pocket every year.
What gets even crazier though, is when you start to look at the competition for roles in these cities by comparison…
How competitive are these markets when applying for jobs?
Earlier in this guide we used city population as a proxy for competition, which as I said, is not a perfect measure because not everyone in a city is applying for junior tech roles.
Not a huge issue right?
But when I was putting this together and looking at these cities that were coming up that were super cheap, I noticed something a little crazy in that almost no one was applying for these jobs compared to what you'd expect.
For example
Here's a Junior Software Engineer listing I found in Huntsville, Alabama:
It had only 52 applicants in 6 months! And to be clear, that company is hiring multiple software engineers.
The more I looked at these listings in these cities it was the same kind of thing. So just for fun, I figured I would look for the same role in some of these other locations with a higher volume of jobs. This way we could gauge that opportunity vs competition.
Here's the same role posted in San Francisco:
It's had 100 applicants in just 3 days.
That's more than double the applications the Huntsville role received in 6 months. At that rate, the San Francisco role would accumulate around 6,000 applications over the same period! (Although they would probably close applications way before then).
But that's not even the most extreme example...
Here's another Junior Software Engineer posting, but in New York.
It's had 31 applicants in just 41 minutes!
That means that in less than the time it takes to watch an episode of a TV show, that role had more competition than the Huntsville listing had seen in half a year.
Now of course, population size plays a role here. New York and San Francisco are enormous cities that attract ambitious people from all over the world, and that drives the competition up. But the pattern is clear.
The less obvious the city, the less saturated the applicant pool. And that matters enormously when you're just starting out and trying to get your first role.
So with all of that in mind, let's get to what you've been waiting for.
The ZTM top 5 cities to get hired in entry-level tech are...
#1. Santa Clara, CA with 11 jobs per 10,000 residents
Yep, Silicon Valley still pulls ahead, mainly due to the insanely high volume of jobs. However, it's not central SF that we recommend but Santa Clara, so let's break it down.
Santa Clara sits in the heart of Silicon Valley, and is home to Intel, Nvidia, AMD and dozens of other major tech employers packed into a relatively small city.
You can expect a higher starting salary if you choose to start your career here, because these companies want the best so they're prepared to pay more to get them, with the starting salary for a Junior Software Engineer being around 17% higher than average, at $111,034.
That being said, you’ll still struggle with the costs, as Santa Clara is 131% more expensive to live in than the average US city!
That means that a single person needs around $107,196 a year just to live comfortably, which leaves a Junior Software Engineer with just $3,838 after living costs. That's less than $320 a month to do anything other than pay your bills.
Ouch!
Not only that, but it's extremely competitive to get hired here, with companies having more complex hiring procedures than at other tech companies around the country.
So why would we still recommend this city on our list?
Well it's slightly cheaper than central San Francisco (which is 145% more expensive than the average US city), but mainly because there's room to grow. In fact, there's around 700 open senior software engineering roles available right now in this location!
If you're long term career focused, this could be the location that really blows open salary wise.
No joke, but some senior tech roles at these companies can pay as high as $300k a year base salary plus stocks and benefits, and you'll make long term connections and a ludicrous salary once your career kicks off. You just have to scrimp and save before then.
Outside of work the lifestyle is genuinely great also. You'll have mild weather all year round, easy access to San Francisco, world class food and culture nearby, and a social scene built around ambitious tech professionals. Levi's Stadium is also right here if you're into sport, so it's a great place to live if you can make the finances work.
However, the next 4 options on this list all cost considerably less to live in, so let's take a look at them next.
#2. Inglewood, CA with 9.75 jobs per 10,000 residents
OK so this one genuinely caught us off guard because Inglewood is definitely not what comes to mind when you think of tech careers. As a 90s kid I know it almost exclusively from hip hop albums.
But the reason it scores so highly is because within its 8km search radius sits both:
- Culver City where Amazon Studios, Apple TV and TikTok are all based, and
- El Segundo which is home to Boeing and Raytheon.
That gives a city of just 100,000 people access to 98 verified entry level roles.
It's the classic LA dynamic. You live somewhere affordable and commute a short distance to where the work is. That being said, it's not even that much of a commute, with either location being just a 10-15 minute drive.
However, because the jobs are in El Segundo and Culver City, you get paid those salary rates.
So how much is that?
Well, the average Junior Software Engineer salary in El Segundo is $100,702, which is also above the national average.
This is even better once you realize that Inglewood itself has a cost of living score of 161.7.
And yes, that means it’s 61% higher than the national average, but it's still a lot cheaper than Santa Clara or SF for access to a thriving tech scene and high salaries.
In fact, a single person can live comfortably on $66,400 a year here, which would leave roughly $34,300 at the end of the year. Compare that to Santa Clara's $3,838 and you start to see why this ended up on our list.
But would you want to live here?
Outside of work you're in greater Los Angeles, which speaks for itself. Beaches, mountains, world class food, culture and nightlife within a short drive. SoFi Stadium means major events on your doorstep. It's genuinely a great place to be if you're up for the LA lifestyle.
I’ll be honest though and say that Inglewood has historically had a higher than average crime rate so you need to keep that in mind. However, it has improved a lot in recent years thanks to the investment around SoFi Stadium, but it's worth doing your research on specific neighbourhoods before committing.
The good news is you don't even need to live in Inglewood itself. You could live in areas like Hawthorne and Westchester that put you right between the residential and commercial zones with an even shorter commute and slightly lower rent.
Is it the obvious choice? No. But the data makes a strong case, and if you're willing to look past the reputation and do your research, it could be a genuinely smart move.
Again, stick with us though because some of the other options on this list are even easier to get hired at, and are actually cheaper than the average US city…
Before then though, I want to quickly talk about the 3rd best option that ticks our ranking criteria…
#3. Cambridge, MA with 9.49 jobs per 10,000 residents
Another expensive location but with a lot of opportunities if you're willing to either flatshare or commute.
Cambridge is home to both MIT and Harvard, which has created a massive cluster of biotech, research and software companies all actively hiring junior tech talent. At the time of writing this post, there are 115 entry level roles for a city of just 121,000 people.
What really stands out is that 42 of those roles are data analyst positions. That's more data specific hiring than anywhere else on our list, and it makes sense when you think about the industries concentrated here.
Sidenote: It's also worth noting that Cambridge isn't the only city where one specific role pulls significantly ahead. Washington, DC has 70 verified entry level cybersecurity roles out of 139 total. This is more than any other city we analysed, driven almost entirely by the NSA and federal agencies.
If cybersecurity is your path, DC is definitely worth a look. You can see the full breakdown of all 344 cities in the dataset here.
Anyways, back to Cambridge.
The main issue with living here is that the city is expensive. This is because Cambridge is just 6.4 square miles with 120,000 people packed into it, plus a constant flow of students competing for the same limited housing.
So trying to live on a junior salary would technically leave you in the red, just for rent alone. That's why most people starting out here share a place, which makes it much more manageable, or they commute in.
Outside of work you're a short walk from Boston, which has everything you'd want from a major city, while the food and bar scene in Cambridge itself is excellent.
However, this next option is quite possibly my favourite.
#4 Boulder, CO with 5.90 jobs per 10,000 residents
If we look at Boulder itself, you have Google, IBM and dozens of well funded startups set up there. That’s why it has the 4th best jobs per capita ratio on our entire list, and that’s not even including the commuting options to nearby cities. (Denver is only 30 miles away if you want a bigger city experience and more job options).
It’s definitely more expensive than our last option, but you can still do fairly well here. In fact, the average Junior Software Engineer salary is $98,050, which leaves around $30,046 after rent.
Honestly, if this was me starting my career, I would pick Boulder.
Why?
Well not only do you have amazing ski resorts nearby (which would be a huge selling point for me), as well as all that nature and trail walking, but you also have a thriving start-up culture here. So you can still get those Silicon Valley level opportunities.
That being said, not everyone is interested in snowboarding, so let’s look at the final option in our top 5 and prepare to be amazed…
#5. Huntsville, AL with 5.16 jobs per 10,000 residents
Yep Alabama…
If you’ve been reading all the other sections before this, then you won’t be surprised that this city made our list:
- It pays fairly well for tech roles
- It's cheaper than the average US city to live in, so you have a lot more cash left at the end of the year
- There’s a bunch of open entry-level jobs. (In fact, the ratio is around half that of Santa Clara which is frankly insane for a mid-sized city in Alabama vs the world's biggest tech hub)
- The competition is insanely low for roles
- And the companies based there have been there for decades. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center has been based here since 1960, while Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and SAIC all have significant operations here
At this point, you’re probably thinking, well what’s it like to live there?
Honestly, it's pretty gorgeous. The city sits in a beautiful part of northern Alabama surrounded by mountains, valleys and the Tennessee River, while Monte Sano State Park offers hiking, mountain biking and stunning views right on the doorstep. So if you love nature this is a winner. Also, Nashville is only 110 miles away for when you want a bigger city experience.
But that being said, the food scene has improved dramatically in recent years driven by the influx of well paid engineers and defence contractors, while the social scene is heavily influenced by the engineering and tech community.
Plus it has a pretty fantastic BJJ gym if you’re into trying to fold people's clothes while they’re still wearing them.
As for long term careers?
The senior salary might not be as high as some SF based roles, but working on defence and aerospace contracts also often leads to security clearances, which dramatically increase your market value over time. In fact, Senior Software Engineers in this sector regularly earn $130,000 to $180,000. All while living somewhere your money goes significantly further than anywhere on the coasts.
I highly recommend you check this place out before everyone else reads this guide and starts applying there.
So which is the best city for entry level tech to start their career?
Honestly, it depends on what you want. But here's a simple way to think about it:
- Want the highest job density and long term career ceiling?
Santa Clara. Tough financially early on, but the connections and senior salaries are hard to beat anywhere in the world.
- Want the most money left in your pocket after rent?
Huntsville. It wins on take home, job volume and competition. By every practical measure it's the best starting point for someone who wants to build a career and actually save money doing it.
- Willing to commute and want the best lifestyle?
Colorado. Denver, Boulder and Aurora within 40 minutes of each other, 309 combined roles, and some of the best outdoor living in the country.
There's no single right answer. But there are definitely more options than most people realise. And if you've been assuming your only real choices are San Francisco, New York or Austin, we hope this changes that.
So get out there and start looking for jobs in the places you might not have thought of!
