These Are The 10 Best Cities For Web Developers

By Chris Kolmar
Dec. 14, 2016

Find a Job You Really Want In

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Whether you’re just starting out your career, or looking to make a move, it can be important to know what part of the country offers the best chance for your long term career prospects. And for a very common profession like Web Developers, the regional differences can have a big impact on your salary and career options.

To help you make the best decision possible, we at Zippia wanted to look at the cities that offer web developers the most for their career. These are the cities across the US where web developers get paid well, relative to the cost of living, and jobs are plentiful.

So we did what we do best and dove into the numbers from the BLS to figure out which cities have the best opportunities for web developers.The result is this list of the best cities web developers:

  1. San Jose, CA
  2. Seattle, WA
  3. Framingham, MA
  4. Austin, TX
  5. San Francisco, CA
  6. California, MD
  7. Columbia, MO
  8. Dallas, TX
  9. Durham, NC
  10. Atlanta, GA

So there you have it — San Jose is the best city when it comes to being a web developer.

And where should you consider avoiding if you’re a web developer? That would be Salisbury.

Read on to see how we completed our research on the best cities for web developers and for more on the top ten cities.

How we determined the best cities to be a web developers?




Here at Zippia, we talk to a lot of people of all different backgrounds looking for jobs. Our research has concluded that there are two common things people want in a job:

  • Availability of jobs
  • Pay

So in order to find out the best cities for web developers in America we needed to figure out where the jobs are and how well web developers get paid. This led to the following criteria taken from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’s Occupational Employment Statistics for 2015:

  • Location quotient. A measure of how common a job is a given city.
  • Average annual salary.
  • Average annual salary for entry level work.

To make all the salary numbers more apples to apples across cities, we compared the salary data relative to the state’s cost of living.

This left us with enough data for 258 metro areas across the country. We then took the primary area of the metro and labeled that the ‘city’ for this analysis. So, for example, “Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA NECTA Division” became simply Boston.

In order to develop an overall ranking, we ranked each city for each criteria from 1 to 258 where 1 was the best.

We then averaged all the rankings for a city into a Job Score with the city having the lowest overall Job Score earning the distinction of being the best city for web developers in America.

So without further ado, let’s get into just what made each city so great for web developers.

1. San Jose, CA

Total Jobs: 2,930
Average Annual Salary: $107,500
Average Entry Level Salary: $63,320
Location Quotient: 3.14

2. Seattle, WA

Total Jobs: 3,480
Average Annual Salary: $91,740
Average Entry Level Salary: $49,040
Location Quotient: 2.46

3. Framingham, MA

Total Jobs: 240
Average Annual Salary: $95,350
Average Entry Level Salary: $57,240
Location Quotient: 1.5

4. Austin, TX

Total Jobs: 1,890
Average Annual Salary: $76,580
Average Entry Level Salary: $41,220
Location Quotient: 2.21

5. San Francisco, CA

Total Jobs: 3,640
Average Annual Salary: $97,400
Average Entry Level Salary: $45,810
Location Quotient: 3.87

6. California, MD

Total Jobs: 50
Average Annual Salary: $86,090
Average Entry Level Salary: $56,840
Location Quotient: 1.34

7. Columbia, MO

Total Jobs: 190
Average Annual Salary: $63,110
Average Entry Level Salary: $41,480
Location Quotient: 2.27

8. Dallas, TX

Total Jobs: 2,950
Average Annual Salary: $72,920
Average Entry Level Salary: $41,220
Location Quotient: 1.37

9. Durham, NC

Total Jobs: 470
Average Annual Salary: $68,430
Average Entry Level Salary: $40,930
Location Quotient: 1.78

10. Atlanta, GA

Total Jobs: 2,450
Average Annual Salary: $80,080
Average Entry Level Salary: $44,520
Location Quotient: 1.07

And that’s our list of the best cities for web developers

If you’re looking to start out your career as a web developer these are the cities that should be at the top of your list. You’ll find high pay, available jobs, and chances for career advancement.

If you’re curious, here are the worst cities to be a web developer in America:

  1. Salisbury, MD
  2. Yuma, AZ
  3. El Paso, TX

Detailed List Of The Best Cities For Web Developers

Rank State Average Salary Entry Level Salary # Of People
1 San Jose, CA $107,500 $63,320 2,930
2 Seattle, WA $91,740 $49,040 3,480
3 Framingham, MA $95,350 $57,240 240
4 Austin, TX $76,580 $41,220 1,890
5 San Francisco, CA $97,400 $45,810 3,640
6 California, MD $86,090 $56,840 50
7 Columbia, MO $63,110 $41,480 190
8 Dallas, TX $72,920 $41,220 2,950
9 Durham, NC $68,430 $40,930 470
10 Atlanta, GA $80,080 $44,520 2,450
11 Columbus, OH $71,600 $39,380 1,040
12 Wilmington, DE $82,100 $52,940 320
13 Sioux Falls, SD $74,940 $41,240 130
14 Corvallis, OR $66,780 $49,840 50
15 Montgomery County, PA $69,600 $40,950 1,260
16 Trenton, NJ $78,940 $50,800 220
17 Boston, MA $80,760 $48,040 2,590
18 Omaha, NE $66,800 $39,400 580
19 San Rafael, CA $104,580 $48,500 100
20 Oakland, CA $80,580 $43,870 1,330
21 Burlington, VT $71,200 $38,340 360
22 Cleveland, OH $63,280 $37,510 1,130
23 Portsmouth, NH $72,080 $44,970 120
24 Lowell, MA $84,080 $50,510 140
25 Chicago, IL $79,070 $41,250 3,630
26 Lafayette, IN $57,940 $41,890 110
27 New York, NY $82,710 $42,920 8,600
28 Philadelphia, PA $69,740 $41,760 810
29 Phoenix, AZ $73,510 $36,510 2,350
30 Bellingham, WA $62,550 $50,550 90
31 State College, PA $72,470 $39,030 60
32 Minneapolis, MN $69,560 $37,510 2,900
33 Warren, MI $65,740 $42,590 1,000
34 Charlotte, NC $71,880 $34,280 1,270
35 Raleigh, NC $66,480 $39,710 580
36 Tacoma, WA $70,510 $46,290 210
37 Ann Arbor, MI $63,370 $36,400 270
38 Silver Spring, MD $80,610 $38,340 1,360
39 Lexington, KY $56,080 $40,130 230
40 Providence, RI $78,170 $44,510 380
41 Nashville, TN $64,620 $38,460 690
42 Dover, NH $78,400 $48,240 30
43 Lansing, MI $74,320 $38,250 150
44 Denver, CO $70,660 $40,400 1,480
45 Fargo, ND $59,010 $35,140 170
46 Anaheim, CA $77,640 $37,970 2,490
47 Salt Lake City, UT $63,930 $31,840 980
48 Portland, OR $64,950 $35,550 2,530
49 Charleston, SC $68,850 $34,750 230
50 Salinas, CA $78,320 $47,970 110
51 Provo, UT $64,530 $29,860 460
52 Jackson, MS $73,150 $37,860 150
53 Warner Robins, GA $66,030 $42,720 40
54 Jacksonville, FL $69,600 $33,450 800
55 Indianapolis, IN $59,210 $35,320 940
56 Spokane, WA $68,650 $42,070 150
57 Huntsville, AL $62,930 $38,760 120
58 Columbus, GA $61,910 $42,690 70
59 Kansas City, MO $58,940 $32,940 1,060
60 Boulder, CO $63,720 $36,510 550
61 Fayetteville, AR $71,620 $31,400 150
62 St. Louis, MO $69,370 $36,100 730
63 Cedar Rapids, IA $68,580 $31,020 150
64 Portland, ME $60,170 $40,550 210
65 Charlottesville, VA $65,590 $35,780 190
66 Naples, FL $74,090 $39,920 70
67 Allentown, PA $63,320 $33,820 370
68 Fort Worth, TX $69,860 $37,770 480
69 West Palm Beach, FL $63,090 $35,110 800
70 Napa, CA $83,010 $36,900 60
71 Tampa, FL $62,920 $37,830 1,280
72 Detroit, MI $62,490 $41,010 430
73 Joplin, MO $61,020 $40,040 40
74 Santa Rosa, CA $74,220 $32,560 300
75 Palm Bay, FL $68,220 $35,780 160
76 Iowa City, IA $68,830 $40,570 30
77 Birmingham, AL $63,260 $38,640 200
78 Panama City, FL $69,160 $38,390 60
79 Winston, NC $70,850 $42,380 70
80 Reno, NV $64,720 $43,340 140
81 Flagstaff, AZ $60,220 $40,730 50
82 Danbury, CT $78,950 $46,250 50
83 Tallahassee, FL $61,760 $35,600 190
84 Los Angeles, CA $70,410 $35,590 5,370
85 Madison, WI $57,500 $34,440 650
86 Bridgeport, CT $72,390 $36,510 620
87 Akron, OH $56,770 $33,480 250
88 Cincinnati, OH $64,530 $30,340 710
89 Las Cruces, NM $61,320 $37,930 40
90 Oxnard, CA $68,180 $41,130 280
91 Eugene, OR $72,130 $28,140 160
92 Columbia, SC $58,420 $34,160 260
93 Augusta, GA $66,060 $39,160 80
94 Topeka, KS $60,410 $35,560 70
95 Richmond, VA $67,450 $37,040 510
96 Baton Rouge, LA $63,950 $42,800 100
97 Greensboro, NC $65,690 $39,530 160
98 Bremerton, WA $71,440 $38,110 40
99 Louisville/Jefferson County, KY $53,770 $33,500 390
100 Baltimore, MD $74,380 $27,670 2,290

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Author

Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.

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