Newark and Jersey City both ranked among the Top 5 cities nationally for those seeking careers in technology, according to research done by the educational resource website edwize.org.
Newark came in at No. 3 overall, trailing Arlington, Virginia, and Baltimore. Jersey City is at No. 5, one spot behind Washington, D.C.
The index looked at the following data points:
- Population;
- Average salary of tech jobs;
- Average broadband speed per city;
- Rent per month (1-bedroom central apartment);
- Number of tech jobs.
The study did not originally include Newark and Jersey City — as it was looking at the tech scene in the 50 largest U.S. cities (Newark and Jersey City do not qualify by population size, though the population of the Newark-Jersey City corridor would easily make the list).
Once added, Newark and Jersey City dominated their larger counterparts: Boston (No. 7), Seattle (No. 10), Austin, Texas (No. 27), and New York City (No. 36). San Jose, California, was No. 28; San Francisco came in at No. 48.
Layla Acharya, the founder of the site, which specializes in tech education, said she was a bit surprised by the findings — but said the data is the data.
“It’s a bit of a surprise to see some of the lesser-known tech cities ranking really well in the report, and equally surprising to see some of the big players ranking further down,” she said. “As an Indian-American myself, we do face tougher circumstances around job hunting, so using this type of data can really help anyone looking to pursue a career in tech find the best opportunity.”
Arlington earned the top spot for having a whopping average salary of $91,988 and more than 10,400 jobs currently available related to tech.
Jobs listed in Newark and Jersey City could not match the average salary (both came in at just over $60,000), but both cities had for more jobs available: Newark (18,801); Jersey City (18,512).
