Salt Lake City tech salaries fall behind other tech hubs
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Tech wages in Salt Lake City are steadily rising as Utah's Silicon Slopes community grows but still lag behind other tech hubs in the West.
Why it matters: Tech companies in Utah directly and indirectly supported nearly 15% of jobs in the state, according to a 2019 report by the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute.
By the numbers: Tech workers in Salt Lake City earned 84% of what tech workers in San Francisco were paid, according to a compensation report by Carta, a company that helps founders and early-stage startups manage their cap tables, valuations and equity plans.
- In the Provo-Orem region, tech workers earned 80% of San Francisco workers.
- The report labeled Salt Lake City and Provo-Orem as third-tier cities for tech salaries.
- The West Coast contains three of the four first-tier cities in the nation for tech compensation, including San Francisco, San Jose, California and Seattle.
Between the lines: Most companies take an employee's location into account when deciding on wages, according to the report.
- For example, the overall cost of living is 49% lower in Salt Lake City compared to San Francisco, according to NerdWallet's cost of living calculator.
What they're saying: "Salt Lake and Provo have really great burgeoning tech ecosystems, but the level of venture capital … just isn't quite to the level of a Bay Area quite yet," said Peter Walker, head of insights at Carta and author of the report.
Yes, but: As remote work becomes more popular, a small number of companies have started to pay certain workers, primarily engineers, identically across all regions to attract and retain talent.
- Walker said tech wages in Utah are rising, and he wouldn't be surprised to see Salt Lake City become a first-tier city in tech compensation in the next one to two years.
Background: In the last 13 years, tech conglomerates — some lured by lower real estate costs and tax incentives — have established facilities in Utah, particularly in Utah County.
- Adobe launched a new corporate hub in Lehi during the early 2010s after acquiring Utah-based company Omniture.
- Meta, previously known as Facebook, announced plans in 2018 to open a data center in Eagle Mountain that began operating in 2021.
- Google recently announced it purchased 300 acres of land in Eagle Mountain to establish a new data center.