Which regions are still creating software jobs?

Software development is the quintessential job of the modern-day technology industry. However, there are one-third fewer job postings today than in early 2020.

Jan 17, 2026

The profession of software development has been going through a rough patch lately. Many companies hired a lot during the pandemic — peaking in the first half of 2022 (see Federal Reserve Economic Data chart below) — hoping the demand for technology from people cooped up in their homes would continue to rise. When that future did not materialize, companies started shedding workers and pulled the brakes on hiring. Then, starting in November 2022, AI went mainstream and we quickly discovered that AI could code at lightning speed. This accelerated layoffs and froze hiring, leaving 32% fewer software development job postings than in early 2020. However, different metropolitan regions tell us very different stories.

Here is what Bureau of Labor Statistics data has to say

Let us look at data released by the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. We will compare the data released in May 2022, when the demand for software developers was at its peak, with the latest data from May 2024 (here is a note on OEWS estimates). We will look at the 10 biggest metropolitan areas for software developers. In the May 2024 estimate, these regions accounted for 46% of all software developer jobs in the nation (data from OEWS Query System).

The total number of software developers employed in these top 10 regions went up only 3% between May 2022 and May 2024. Despite the muted net growth, some areas grew significantly while others shrank.

Regions with more jobs: San Francisco Bay Area, Dallas, New York City

If you lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is home to two metropolitan areas — San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA and San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA — you saw software developer employment go up by 11% — equivalent to 16,000 new jobs. Wages declined by 1%, meaning they dropped more in real terms due to inflation, which was 8% in 2022 and 4.1% in 2023. Dallas clocked in an impressive 26% employment growth — a net growth of 13,000 jobs. Things looked good in NYC too with software developer employment up 10%, adding 11,000 jobs. Wages generally tracked inflation in both Dallas and NYC.

Regions with fewer jobs: Seattle, Boston, Atlanta

Seattle — down 10% — lost 8,000 software development jobs. Boston lost 7,000 — a 13% decline — and Atlanta 6,000 — a 14% drop. Seattle and Boston wages generally kept up with inflation. Real wages in Atlanta declined.

Job growth favored bigger regions

As a software developer, you had better chances of finding a job in California, New York and Texas between 2022 and 2024. Factors include AI startups coming out of Silicon Valley and a massive rise of the tech scenes in Dallas and NYC. However, had you headed to Seattle or Boston — relatively smaller regions with more concentrated opportunities — you were likely to face a difficult job market.

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