SAN DIEGO—To make the move more in line with their previous salary, tech talent relocating from higher-paying cities is often offered more money to than a local candidate would be, Hired's San Diego market lead Neal Bloom tells GlobeSt.com. The firm recently released the results of a study based on 80,000 job offers through its site about software-job salaries by city, which revealed some interesting findings: Those relocating to San Diego make $19,000 more here than locals do; San Diego is tied for sixth in the country with Washington, DC, for highest-paying software jobs; and making $132,000 in San Francisco is like making $142,000 in San Diego with the cost-of-living adjustment. We spoke exclusively with Bloom about these salary discrepancies and how San Diego stacks up to other markets in the tech-salary department.

GlobeSt.com: Why are those who relocate to San Diego making more money than locals are?

Bloom: Of the 11 cities included in our analysis, six of those offer a higher average salary for software engineers than San Diego. If any of those engineers decided to relocate to San Diego, it would only make sense for them to continue making the same, if not a greater salary, so they can maintain their standard of living. There is also a lot to be said about coming to San Diego with a wealth of experience. San Diego's web tech startup scene is less mature than San Francisco's, and therefore those moving to San Diego bring an even greater knowledge of how to build scalable web systems and kick-start growth within the companies. This population alongside the local talent are a perfect recipe for growing better tech companies.

Engineers relocating from San Francisco are offered, on average, $134,000, whereas candidates relocating from all other cities are offered $125,000 compared to San Diego's average software-engineer salary of $115,000. While most cities in our analysis offer more to candidates relocating from San Francisco than local candidates given the high average software-engineer salaries, San Diego offers the highest difference in salary at $31,000 more than the $103,000 only local candidates receive.

GlobeSt.com: What has led to San Diego being ranked so high in compensation for software jobs?

Bloom: San Diego's tech community is currently thriving. Analytics Ventures, one of the most active early-stage investors in San Diego, is bringing in capital, expertise and entrepreneurs who want to scale their businesses. In addition, Qualcomm, the city's oldest and biggest employer of tech talent, has invested heavily in the local startup ecosystem through EvoNexus, the region's only pro bono startup incubator. UC San Diego also has one of the largest and highest-ranked computer-science programs, which is training engineers that are more than excited to join a new, growing business. Outside venture funds have also looked to San Diego's talent pool as a gem in the city, which has led to Google Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and Trinity Ventures, as well as other to making multiple investments in the region.

Companies in any tech hub today are having to compete like never before to attract top talent, and one of the easiest ways to compete is by offering higher salaries. Yet most of the tools available to companies and job seekers are flawed and inaccurate. Salary calculators don't account for company size, years of candidate experience or location, while many jobs sites are based on anonymous, self-reported data that can vary widely in accuracy. Our data, which is based on actual job offers made to real people, will bring more transparency to the hiring process by letting companies know up front what compensation needs to be offered in order to secure top tech talent, in San Diego and across the US.

GlobeSt.com: Is the cost-of-living adjustment a major plus to sway talent from San Francisco to San Diego?

Bloom: While the cost of living in San Diego isn't drastically lower than that of San Francisco, candidates are drawn to the region's 70 miles of perfect coastline, awesome shopping destinations and almost year-round sun. More than 20% of Hired's talent pool have indicated that they are interested in relocating to San Diego, which spurs from a mixture of the quality of the beach lifestyle as well as the diversity of industries flourishing in San Diego. Companies like Fitbit and GoPro have large presences in San Diego due to the quality of the talent pool. This further attracts others to move to the city.  

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about San Diego salaries?

Bloom: Companies should know that retention rates in San Diego are overwhelmingly higher than in San Francisco. This shows that companies are paying a respectable rate, and candidates feel adequately challenged. While there is a demand for more engineers, companies are interested in diversifying their engineering population as a mix of local developers along with importing talent from other cities that have grown companies with different backgrounds.