CompTIA's annual report of tech employment has California topping all other states by wide margins in nearly every sector Where’s a good place to find a job in technology? Texas, New York, Florida, Massachusetts, and Washington are all strong players, but California continues to be tops for tech employment, often by a wide margin. Industry group CompTIA’s “Cyberstates 2016” report analyzed trends in the tech jobs field — manufacturing, telecom, software, IT services, and engineering — over the past year, broken down by state. California, with 1.15 million tech jobs, had a nearly two-to-one lead over second-place finisher Texas, with 585,600. New York, Florida, and Massachusetts trailed with 369,500, 311,800, and 294,600 respectively. California also had the largest number of job postings in tech — 152,700 in Q4 2015, leaving New York’s 63,200 a distant second. The amount of tech job growth in those states mapped closely to the rankings. California added 59,500 tech jobs last year, while second-ranked New York added only 15,500. Wages between states were a little closer; California’s average was $149,300, and the next highest, Washington, came in at $129,400. California tech workers also make more than nontech workers from any other state, raking in 151 percent more than the national average. That said, the report doesn’t discuss how the cost of living in each state offsets the wages offered, especially since many other cities outside of Silicon Valley offer thriving tech sectors. The tech market in other states is evolving, though. California, for instance, wasn’t the top state by tech sector employment change (up 5.5 percent); that distinction went to Utah, which jumped 8 percent over 2015. Oregon had the greatest total contributions to gross state production from tech: 23 percent, compared to California’s 10.5 percent. The District of Columbia boasted the largest number of women working in tech, with women comprising 39.5 percent of the workforce. Massachusetts led in percentage of the overall private sector workforce in tech, with 9.8 percent, although California wasn’t far behind at 8.2 percent. IT JobsTechnology Industry