(Hired Graphic)

Tech salaries just keep going up in Seattle, with the average pay jumping from $125,000 in 2015 to $138,000 today. That’s among the findings from career marketplace Hired in its latest State of Salaries report out on Thursday.

The report looks at trends in business hubs across the globe, including Seattle, and analyzes how much salaries have changed, which industries are paying the most, and how pay compares when cost of living is factored in.

Seattle’s tech salaries over the previous four years show a 10-percent jump, according to Hired:

  • 2015: $125,000
  • 2016: $129,000
  • 2017: $132,000
  • 2018: $138,000

The region — home to Amazon, Microsoft, Tableau, Zillow, Redfin, Zulily, Rover and sizable outposts for Google, Facebook and others — is second only to the San Francisco Bay Area, where pay averages $145,000 a year.

It’s the fourth consecutive year that Silicon Valley has topped Hired’s list. New York ($133,000), Boston ($127,000), Los Angeles ($128,000), Austin ($125,000) and Washington, D.C. ($123,000) are also in the top tier. In Boston, paychecks jumped 9 percent from 2017 to 2018.

Tech workers in Seattle who would consider moving to the Bay Area would need to make $44,000 more, or $182,000 a year, to maintain their current standard of living among that region’s sky-high cost of living and real estate market. That ranks third behind the adjusted salaries it would require to move from Denver ($185,000) and Austin ($208,000).

Austin, Seattle and Denver ranked one, two and three as the most appealing cities that tech workers would consider relocating to. According to Hired, those folks may be on the move soon. Sixty percent of tech workers surveyed said they plan to leave their city in five years. Here are the reasons why:

(Hired Graphic)

Here are other key findings from Hired’s State of Salaries:

  • Job types: Full stack engineers are the most in-demand in the U.S., while backend engineers are most sought after in the U.K.
  • Race and tech: Black tech workers are paid the least — and the gap is growing. They’re paid $11,000 less than white peers, up by $5,000 since last year. For the first time, Asian tech workers are out-earning their white counterparts by $2,000 on average.
  • Age and tech: Salaries for tech workers peak in their mid-40s at $149,000 but then plateau after 50 where it hovers around $146,000. It then drops even further as they enter their 60s with $144,000 offered.

(Hired Graphic)
  • Tech pays most: The technology sector pays candidates the most competitive salaries at $141,000. In the U.S., retail, entertainment and healthcare industries tied for second, with an average salary of $140,000, followed by education at $138,000.

  • Degrees of separation: 31 percent of tech workers believe they could have the exact same job without their advanced degree. Only 23 percent of techies with master’s and/or doctorates believe they command higher salaries because of their advanced degree.

According to Hired’s methodology, the report is based on proprietary information, data from real job offers on the platform from companies to tech workers, gathered and analyzed by Hired’s data science team. Hired focused on technology workers in 13 cities. The salaries included reflect more than 420,000 interview requests and job offers from the past year facilitated through Hired’s marketplace of more than 10,000 participating companies and 98,000 job seekers. Survey responses from more than 1,800 tech workers were also collected to understand how education, salaries, benefits and cost of living affect workers’ decision making and satisfaction.

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