Tampa area gaining tech workers

Tampa ranks roughly in the middle of the top 50 U.S. and Canadian markets for its ability to attract and retain technology-oriented employees, according to a new survey from commercial real estate firm CBRE Group Inc.

CBRE's Tech Talent Scorecard puts the city at No. 27, but perhaps more notably, Tampa grew at the fastest rate of any of the 50 markets studied, with a gain of 55%, or 16,140 jobs since the annual survey began in 2012.

CBRE contends tech companies are willing to pay a premium to be located in areas where tech-related talent is abundant.

Tampa also ranked as the most affordable market of the 50 studied for software developers, engineers and others, despite having average wages that are somewhat below the national average.

“Since the cost of talent is the largest expense for most firms, the quality of that talent is becoming one of their most important considerations,” says Colin Yasukochi, a CBRE director of research and analysis and the report's author.

Tampa also ranked as having the third-largest tech talent labor pool among the report's smaller markets, with 45,340 employees, behind only Charlotte and Columbus, Ohio.

The top 10 cities with tech-centric labor bases, perhaps not surprisingly, are San Francisco; Seattle; New York; Washington, D.C.; Atlanta; Toronto; Raleigh-Durham; Austin, Texas; Boston and Dallas/Fort Worth.

Rankings are determined by more than a dozen criteria, including growth, cost of occupancy and industry outlook.