Expert Reveals The Most Tech-Savvy State In New Study

IT professionals in the US make up over 4.18 million workers, and with January welcoming 353,000 new positions within the sector, it is clear that the tech industry is ever-growing.

With America hosting 585,000 tech companies, including renowned brands  such as Amazon, Apple and Microsoft, it begs the question, which US state offers the most opportunity for tech enthusiasts?

Experts at AIPRM sought to discover which US state is the most tech-savvy. To do so, they looked into a variety of factors such as graduation rates, tech program offerings, average internet speed, and popular tech sectors.

Key Findings:

• Washington is the most tech-savvy state with a ranking of 89.5 out of 100.
• With a score of 88.4, California ranks as the second-best state for tech. 
• Rhode Island hosts the best internet speed with a 9.5 out of 10 rating.

Top 10 top tech savvy states

The full data set for all US states can be viewed here.

Ranking as the most tech-savvy state in the United States is Washington, with a score of 89.50 out of 100. 

Home to tech giant Amazon, this state provides an excellent base for aspiring entrepreneurs and developers alike with a mean annual wage of $134,925, the second highest in the US.

Recognised as the global capital of high technology, California places as the second most tech-savvy state, with a score of 88.40.

The so-called Golden State hosts the largest concentration of tech companies in the US and therefore, offers the highest rate of pay at an average of $164,917 annually.

Famous for its highly skilled labour and strong talent pool, the District of Columbia ranks third with a score of 87.90 out of 100. 

Ranking 10th is Rhode Island, with a score of 75.20 out of 10. Hosting the seventh lowest employment rate (17,598) of all states, and offering a mean annual wage of $124,299, securing a career here could be somewhat difficult.

Top 10 states for fastest WiFi speed

The full data set for all US states can be viewed here.

Offering the best internet speed in the US is Rhode Island with a rating of 9.5 out of 10. The I.T sector contributes over $1.5 billion to this state’s GDP, so it is no wonder they hold the crown.

Ranking second, with a total internet speed score of 9.3 is Connecticut. The state boasts as one of the fastest growing tech hubs with the highest download speed at 286.84Mbps.

Home to one of the most diverse tech-related workforces in the nation and proving to be a standout state, District of Columbia hosts the third best internet speed in the US with a ranking of 8.9 out of 10.

Christoph Cemper, on behalf of AIPRM, shared his insight on the states that use technology the most:

“In today’s society, the internet has become a vital tool for communication and information with over half of the global population using it. But as the US technology market is continuously growing and adapting, it is interesting to note which states place as the most tech-savvy.

“With most major technology companies stationed in the United States, new talent is almost  always being seeked out indicating there is a fair chance for tech enthusiasts. Washington State is the home to many of these successful companies like Amazon and Microsoft, and thus attracts a very tech savvy demographic. More importantly, “The Valley”, in California which is famous for being the capital of high technology, did not rank as number one much to my surprise. But what I’m still missing in this list is Texas, where a lot of Tech companies now have or plan their new homes… It is, however, interesting to see how the tech industry is continuing to grow across the United States as a whole.”

1. AIPRM wanted to find out which state in the US is the most tech-savvy.
2. To do so, Ookla fixed tile speed data was obtained and spatially joined with US states. Metrics were averaged and converted from kbps to mbps for easier readability where appropriate.
3. Internet speed data was collated and a score out of 100 was created to find out the top-ranking state.
4. Data from Deloitte Technology Fast 500 honors the most innovative and fastest-growing companies across North America was collected and collated. 
5. Technology Fast 500 award winners for 2023 are selected based on percentage fiscal year revenue growth during the period from 2019 to 2022.
6. CompTia’s state of the Tech Workforce report was obtained and briefly explored to provide a secondary view.
7. Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics data for Computer and Mathematical Occupations was collected for 2022, 2021 and 2020. Data for 2023 and 2024 was then forecasted using a simple linear model based on the 2022-2020 data. 
8. An overall Score and Ranking was created for the above data to find the best states to work in tech. All metrics on the Field Descriptions Sheet were used in calculating the state score and rank.
9. IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System) data from NCES (National Institute for Educational Statistics) was obtained from institutes (Colleges and Universities) (U.S. Only) with a degree-granting status. 
10. IPEDS data was collated to find the states with the highest % of graduation rates (these are split by gender if necessary). Further processing was done to find out the states with the most CS degree-granting institutions.
11. The data and report from the “2023 State of Computer Science Education” for K-12 computer science in the United States was obtained and analysed as to provide a broader educational picture in addition to the IPEDS data.
12. Sources utilised were github, census, mistral, cyberstates, nces, advocacycode and deloitte.
13. All data was collected February 2024, and is accurate as of then.

Editor’s Note:

• Please note that all data is independent of each state and District of Columbia has been considered as independent of Washington due to it being considered a federal district.
• Please Caveat that Deloitte did not provide the gender of the CEOs thus a GPT AI (Mistral 7b) model was used to determine their gender based of name linguistics and common baby name backgrounds.
• Also caveat that these are estimates/forecasted numbers thus it is not representative of current and actual state wise numbers. Metrics for 2022 should be used and mentioned before giving leading forecasted metrics.
• Please note that each metric has its own description in the “Field Descriptions >>” Sheet.

https://www.aiprm.com/