Programmed for success

New report computes Austin’s status among North America’s tech hubs

With more tech-focused companies moving to Austin, the city will continue to grow as a tech hub.

Photo by Laurence Dutton/Getty Images

Austin still reigns as a top-rated tech hub in North America, but its standing in an annual tech ranking slid slightly from 2020 to 2021.

The recently released 2021 Scoring Tech Talent report from commercial real estate services company CBRE puts Austin in the No. 7 slot among North American tech hubs. Austin ranked sixth in last year’s report.

Two factors favoring Austin in the 2021 report are:

Austin has the most concentrated millennial tech workforce of any top 50 tech talent market, with 34.6 percent of the entire population falling into the 22-36 age bracket.
Austin ranks sixth among the top 50 tech talent markets for educational attainment, with 46.2 percent of the population over age 25 holding at least a bachelor’s degree.

“We are now seeing a new wave of tech companies looking to move or establish an office presence here, with the pandemic just accelerating the rapid growth that Austin has been experiencing for the past 20 years,” says Erin Morales, senior vice president with CBRE’s tech and media practice in Austin.

“Austin has the high-quality talent and lifestyle amenities of other top tech hubs at a significantly lower cost,” Morales adds. “This is why the city will continue attracting companies and people for the foreseeable future. It’s a vibrant, youthful, and accessible place where people enjoy a high quality of life.”

CBRE defines tech talent as 20 key tech professions, such as software engineers and systems managers, across all industries.

Software developers and programmers account for 38.7 percent of the total tech talent in Austin and commanded an average 2020 wage of $105,404, CBRE says. That puts Austin in eighth place for the concentration and 17th for the average wage among large tech markets.

Preceding Austin in the 2021 ranking are the San Francisco Bay Area, at No. 1; Seattle, No. 2; Washington, D.C., No. 3; Toronto, No. 4; New York City, No. 5; and Boston, No. 6.

Elsewhere in Texas, Dallas-Fort Worth comes in at No. 13, Houston at No. 39, and San Antonio at No. 45.

CBRE’s annual report judges the top 50 North American markets by analyzing 13 measures of their ability to attract and develop tech talent, including tech graduation rates, concentration of tech jobs, size of the tech labor pool, and labor and real estate costs. CBRE also ranks the 25 emerging tech markets on a narrower set of criteria.

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Self-driving Roller Coaster

More self-driving cars expected to roll out in Austin for 2025

Photo courtesy of Waymo via KVUE

Various brands offering self-driving cars are on-and-off in Austin.

Expect to see more self-driving rideshare vehicles, also known as robotaxis, on Austin roads next year.

Robotaxi company Waymo, which you may have already seen on Austin's roads, is partnering with Uber. At some point next year, customers will be able to use the Uber app to call a self-driving ride.

Austin-based company Avride is in the testing phase and plans to roll out its robotaxis next year.

Currently, Volkswagen ADMT and Amazon's Zoox are in the testing phase in Austin, while Hyundai's Motional is in the mapping phase.

Last year, robotaxi company Cruise paused operations in Austin after the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the company's permits to operate driverless vehicles in the state. And last week, General Motors said it would no longer fund the company because of the time and resources needed.

This way of getting around has come with its safety concerns and issues. The city is tracking those concerns. According to the Transportation Department, the problems span from blocking the roads and parking in front of people's homes for weeks with lights beaming through their windows, to actual wrecks.

Since July 2023, robotaxis have been involved in 75 incidents. Only 21 of those incidents happened in 2024. It's important to note that Cruise has not been operating in Austin this year.

Since July 2023, driverless rideshare vehicles have been involved in 22 near collisions, eight collisions and seven instances where driverless taxis ignored directions from the Austin Police Department (APD).

According to the data, at least four of those Austin police incidents happened in recent months. The issues varied from driving through police checkpoints, to malfunctioning and getting stuck at an APD road closure near pedestrians, causing safety concerns.

A Waymo spokesperson said their vehicles have gesture recognition capabilities, which they've been training APD officers on using.

As the report shows, sometimes it does not work and Waymo said it is working to improve that. The spokesperson said that as of just last week, Waymo's First Responder Program has been independently verified by TÜV SÜD, making Waymo the first autonomous vehicle (AV) company to receive third-party validation for our emergency response protocols. They also said the data to date indicates the Waymo Driver is already reducing traffic injuries and fatalities in the places where the company currently operates.

Read the full story and watch the video at KVUE.com.

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