Tech Companies Love Denver’s Stability

CBRE’s Tech Thirty 2016 measures the high-tech industry’s impact on North American office markets. This year, Denver was ranked #24 for job growth and #14 for office market rent growth.

Though Denver may not be as high-ranked as expected, or in other reports, these numbers indicate Denver’s market stability, which, according to CBRE Senior Vice President, Alex Hammerstein, is a good thing if we want to be a top destination for tech companies.

It comes as no surprise that San Francisco ranks #1 for high-tech software/services job growth at 47% this year, compared to Denver’s 10.1% growth. However, San Francisco has an office market rent growth at 22.7% (#4), which is almost double Denver’s 12% rent growth. So, consider take a good hard look at your bank account before packing your bags and heading out west — the cost of occupancy will only continue to rise.

The report also reveled statistics on the tech industry that we’re all too familiar with: a limited talent pool. It reads:

“The skills of the available labor pool do not appear to align with available jobs, causing a structural barrier to growth. Jobs that require specific skills, such as software development, are high in demand and the pool of available talent is limited.”

With the unemployment rate is at a low 2.5%, companies are in constant competition for workers, forcing the industry as a whole to slow in upcoming years. This demand is expected to be eased slightly by the growing numbers of university tech graduates, but not enough to sustain the rapid job growth we’ve seen in past years.

Luckily for Denver, our stability attracts expanding companies nationwide. However, as Code Partner and Senior Recruiter, Conor Swanson, points out, well-established companies moving into Denver create more in-state competition than ever:

“It’s a great time to be a developer. The competition for senior technical talent in Colorado is fierce and growing by the day. With well-known out-of-state companies such as Google, Twitter, Gusto, and Amazon expanding their local presence, local companies must step up their game to attract the best talent.”

Here at Code, we can’t wait to see where the tech industry takes Denver next. Check out the full report from CBRE here.