CHICAGO—It's no secret that Silicon Valley is no longer the nation's only center for tech talent. Seattle, Austin, Denver, Boston and New York City all come to mind. However, by one measure none of these markets, with the exception of Seattle, are near the top of the rankings.
That measure is the top 25 metro areas by percentage of science and math degrees as a percentage of all bachelor's degrees. Although the San Jose metro area is in first place, JLL's ranking puts Seattle in 14th place behind Detroit. In between are several considerably smaller metro areas.
Columbus, IN, home of Purdue Polytechnic Institute, isn't far behind San Jose in percentage of STEM graduates. Another unexpectedly fertile field for tech grads—albeit more on a percentage basis than sheer numbers—is third-ranked Huntsville, AL. JLL notes that it's home to both NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and Cummings Research Park, the second-largest research park in the US, as well as one of University of Alabama's three campuses.
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Paul Bubny
Paul Bubny is managing editor of Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com. He has been reporting on business since 1988 and on commercial real estate since 2007. He is based at ALM Real Estate Media Group's offices in New York City.
