Sacramento Emerges as Magnet for IT Professionals

Sacramento

California’s capital city is giving Silicon Valley a run for its money. According to the Greater Sacramento Economic Council (GSEC), 27,000 people relocated from the Bay Area to the Sacramento region in 2018, and IT professionals and tech talent make up a large part of these so-called Bay Area refugees.

For these migrants, more than double the number of people who move to Austin, Denver and Seattle combined each year, the sunny city to the north of Silicon Valley offers a high quality of life, strong tech salaries and more affordable housing. The Bay Area exodus has fueled additional demand for homes and apartments for rent in Sacramento, and development projects are transforming the downtown and midtown landscapes.

In a state that remains a key base of operations for the IT industry, Sacramento scores high for tech employment and tech education growth, while also shining among other Northern California cities in terms of new residential developments. The once quiet city has emerged as a growing economic hub over the past decade, positioning itself as one of the most promising technology centers in the country and not a mere Silicon Valley satellite.

Apple, Intel and Oracle are among the well-known corporate names with a presence in Sacramento. Companies such as Applied Spectra, Rhombus Systems and Zennify, which are expanding in or relocating to this city of more than 508,000 people, benefit from a thriving tech industry that includes some 3,908 firms and 57,554 jobs in the Sacramento region. Supporting these tech firms and the industry’s large pool of talented employees is a vibrant array of internships and government and academic programs dedicated to fostering skills and innovation.