The 10 U.S. cities with the highest IT salaries — and 10 more on the move

While Silicon Valley still holds bragging rights as the mecca for the country’s highest-paid IT professionals, average salaries there have actually decreased over the past year. Fortunately, thanks to the reportedly low unemployment rate among techies, salaries are soaring elsewhere in the country, particularly in Pittsburgh, San Diego, and St. Louis, according to Dice.com’s annual Salary Survey.

In general, IT professionals enjoyed a 5 percent pay increase over the past year, up from $81,327 in 2011 to $85,619. Average bonuses were down a smidge, dipping from $8,769 to $8,636, but slightly more tech professionals — 33 percent vs. 32 percent — received the extra payout in 2012.

Silicon Valley techies are the highest earners, on average, raking in $101,278 per year. However, the figure represents a 2.8 percent year-over-year decrease as other cities are becoming hotbeds for tech jobs.

“Employers are recognizing and adjusting to the reality of a tight market,” said Scot Melland, CEO of Dice. “The fact is you either pay to recruit or pay to retain, and these days, at least for technology teams, companies are doing both.”

Indeed, IT professionals are well aware that their talents are in demand: 19 percent of the survey respondent said they changed jobs over the past year in a move that yielded a pay increase.

Newbs to the tech trade — that is, IT pros with two years or less experience — have seen a nice average salary boost of 8 percent over the past year, driving their average pay to $46,315. At the other end of the spectrum, the average salary for veteran tech professionals — those with at least 15 years of experience — is $103,012, a 4 percent year-over-year increase.

West Coast is the best coast for IT pay
Where, then, are IT professionals bringing home the most bacon? Following are the top 10 regions with the highest-paid IT professionals.

• In the top spot, as noted, is Silicon Valley, where techies take home $101,278 per year on average, down from $104,195 in 2011.
• Second on the list: The Baltimore/Washington D.C. area, where the average IT salary is $97,895, a year over year increase of 3.8 percent.
• San Diego boasts the third highest-paid IT professionals in the United States at $97,328, thanks to a 13.4 percent bump over last year.
• Boston ranks fourth on the list. Techies there earn, on average, $94,742 per year, a 6.9 percent increase since the end of 2011.
• Seattle’s IT community saw its average salary jump by 4.4 percent, pushing it up to $94,335, the fifth highest in the nation.
• In sixth is Houston, with an average IT salary of $94,186, a 5.5 percent jump compared to the previous year.
• The seventh highest-paid techies reside in Los Angeles, now taking home $92,498 on average, 6.1 percent more than they did the previous year.
• Denver now ranks eight, with an average IT salary of $90,430, a 4.4 percent boost.
• Nipping at Denver’s heels in ninth place is Sacramento at $90,127, 3.5 percent more than a year ago.
• Rounding out the top 10 is Austin, where the average salary for IT professionals is $89,680, a 0.4 percent decrease compared to the previous year. Interestingly, Austin managed to edge out New York City by a mere $11.

Pittsburgh ups the IT salary ante
While IT salaries in Silicon Valley, New York, Chicago, and Austin have remained relatively flat, employers in such cities as Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and San Diego have loosened the purse strings considerably to lure IT talent.

“This recovery has been particularly hard for employers in nontraditional tech markets if they want to grow their staff,” Melland said. “With mobility down, the pool of available talent isn’t as deep, which pushes salaries up and makes companies scramble to come up with creative solutions.”

Following are the cities boasting the highest year-over-year salary increases for techies. Bear in mind that the average pay boost nationwide was around 5 percent. Also consider that living expenses are considerably higher in places like Silicon Valley and New York, making some these salary increases all the more significant.

• First up, Pittsburgh, where IT pros earn an average of $76,207, up an impressive 18.1 percent compared to a year ago.
• Second is San Diego, where the average salary increased by 13.4 percent to $97,328
• In third is St. Louis, where IT workers rake in $81,245 on average, a 13.3 percent boost over last year.
• Phoenix takes the No. 4 spot for the highest average pay increase, up 11.5 percent to $83,607
• Coming in at fifth: Cleveland, where IT pros now take home $75,773 on average, an increase of 10.6 percent.
• The No. 6 spot goes to Orlando, where the average salary has jumped by 10.1 percent to $81,583
• Milwaukee holds seventh place with an average year-over-year pay increase of 9.7 percent, pushing the mean salary for techies to $81,670.
• Minneapolis, where IT workers earn an average of $88,375, 9.4 percent more than they did at the end of 2011, takes eighth place.
• Portlandian IT pros saw their average pay swell by 8.8 percent to $89,291.
• In 10th place is Columbus, where the average salary grew by 8.2 percent to $82,831.

One last chunk of data from the report: Techies with big data chops, such as skills in Hadoop, NoSQL, and MongoDB, tend to earn north of $100,000 per year, considerably more than those who focus on technologies associated with mobile (around $80,000) and cloud computing (around $90,000), according to Dice. According to a separate salary report from research company Janco, IT positions focused on quality control, records management, and data center operations are also hot.

“Tech professionals who analyze large data streams and strategically impact the overall business goals of a firm have an opportunity to write their own ticket,” said Alice Hill, managing director of Dice.com. “The message to employers? If you have a talented data team, hold on tight or learn the consequences of a lift-out.”

This story, “The 10 U.S. cities with the highest IT salaries — and 10 more on the move,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com.