Silicon Valley is famously known as the nation’s tech capital. But there’s a new tech hub entering the fight that’s attracted giant tech corporations, including Adobe, eBay, Microsoft, and Facebook.
This new tech hub is the called the Silicon Slopes, an area that encompasses Salt Lake City, Provo, and Park City in Utah. Here’s why more and more tech businesses are choosing the Silicon Slopes over Silicon Valley.
Why Utah is the next Silicon Valley
- Tax Incentives
One reason why Utah is the next Silicon Valley is the roughly $150 million in property tax incentives. Without a doubt, this has attracted data centers and tech giants.
2. Booming Tech Industry
According to a study by the Computing Technology Industry Association, Utah’s tech industry grew faster in 2017 than any other state in the nation with a 3.6 percent increase in tech industry jobs. The study also concluded that Utah has 135,500 tech employees, and 4,680 new tech jobs were added in 2017. Reflecting the state’s growing status in the tech industry is the fact that the globally recognized Silicon Slopes Tech Summit is held in Salt Lake City every year.
3. Low Cost of Living
Compared to the coasts, Utah’s cost-of-living is a bargain. Plus, many companies value a healthy work-life balance. There’s no shortage of things for employers and employees to enjoy after work hours and on weekends.
4. High Tech Salaries
Utahns who have a job in the tech industry have a higher income than the other career fields, according to new numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The average tech salary, according to the BLS, is $87,314 in the state of Utah.
5. Talented Candidates
One fundamental way in which Utah has replicated Silicon Valley’s success is by creating a pipeline of STEM employees through good universities and corporate training programs. To incentivize students to stay in Utah, a $2.5 million program passed by the Utah Senate offers debt relief to local college grads who choose to employ their STEM skills in-state.
The Takeaway
Utah’s massive property and sales tax incentives, multiple colleges filled with tech-savvy entrepreneurs, and low cost of living have made Utah the next major tech hub. Tech companies choosing Utah as their home means excellent career opportunities for both software developers and employees with business backgrounds.
Contact DVO Consulting for IT and Staffing Solutions in Utah
DVO Consulting is a privately-held, female-owned, national IT, business consulting, and staff augmentation firm. We are founded and headquartered in Bountiful, UT to service the ever-growing silicon slopes market and the west coast. We also have offices in Great Falls, VA, which supports clients in Maryland, Virginia and Washington DC; covers east coast operations.
We provide cutting edge data science technologies including analytics projects, Big Data, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence; Cybersecurity; custom software development; Blockchain as a service (BaaS); DevOps and continuous integration/delivery.
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