Big Technology

Where Tech Workers Are Moving: New LinkedIn Data vs. the Narrative

The Austin surge that wasn’t. Plus booming Seattle, miraculous Madison, and sluggish San Francisco.

Alex Kantrowitz
OneZero
Published in
6 min readDec 17, 2020

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Seattle, Washington. Photo: Abbie Parr/Stringer

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There’s a narrative that the tech industry’s future lies in Texas and Florida. That tech workers and executives — sick of California’s oppressive policies and sky-high real estate costs — are moving en masse to Miami and Austin this year. That these cities are building dominant talent foundations that will persist for years due to the pandemic. That narrative is wrong.

The story crumbles when placed next to new LinkedIn data showing where tech workers are actually moving in 2020. The key beneficiaries of this year’s tech migration are less buzzy cities like Madison, Wisconsin; Richmond, Virginia; and Sacramento, California. These places don’t get much play in the news, but they’re attracting tech…

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Alex Kantrowitz
OneZero

Veteran journalist covering Big Tech and society. Subscribe to my newsletter here: https://bigtechnology.com.