on Nov 20, 2017
New York Tech Is Thriving
In New York, tech is serious business. Over the past 10 years, NYC’s tech scene has grown from a cluster of successful startups into a verifiable tech hub, and a vital part of New York’s economy. New York employers are rapidly adding tech jobs while landlords are leasing out bigger and bigger spaces to giants like Google, Facebook, WeWork, and Amazon. To profile New York’s phenomenal growth, we revisited our 2014 study and identified where the tech industry is growing and who it’s employing. The 2017 update found:
- The tech ecosystem employs 326,000 people and has grown 30% since 2006
- Since 2010, tech companies have bought or leased more than 9 million square feet of space
- Since 2006, New York has raised $43.6 billion in VC funds, second only to Silicon Valley
- New York’s tech companies specialize in B2B, Consumer Web, Healthtech, and Fintech
- NYC is home to 9,670 startups and 120 incubators
It’s more than Just Tech Companies
Tech jobs are defined as (1) any occupation within industries that produce tech or are enabled by it and (2) any occupation that produces tech or facilitates its use (e.g. a systems analyst for a global media company). Developers and programmers are in high demand across tech and non-tech sectors alike. In fact, almost half of New York’s tech talent is employed by non-tech industries.
The study also considered the talent potential from the city’s rich cluster of universities and colleges. Every year, New York City graduates nearly twice as many students with computer science degrees than its peer cities. This number is expected to grow even higher with addition of satellite tech campuses like Cornell Tech.
The Smart City
Along with a deep talent pool and top employers, New York City is also the perfect laboratory for urban tech experiments – it’s huge, it’s dense, and has endless variables to test from. With city leadership that has successfully partnered with companies like LinkNYC and Plus Pool to modernize public spaces and services, and generate revenue, New York is poised to become a leader in urban tech.
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Our Urban Tech Practice advises city and tech-industry leaders on strategies and partnerships for creating connected, thriving cities. To learn more about HR&A’s growing Urban Tech practice, email Kate Wittels.