A new study suggests what city cheerleaders have been preaching for months: San Diego tech workers get more bang for their buck than their Bay Area counterparts.
In 2016, the average salary for software engineers in San Diego was $112,000, while Bay Area workers earned, on average, $134,000 for the same positions, according to data compiled by online job-matching company Hired.
However, when adjusted for the cost of living in San Francisco, the average software engineering salary in San Diego jumps to a comparable value of $179,000 in spending power, the firm found.
“When you look at raw salary numbers, (San Diego is) lower than San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York,” said Jessica Kirkpatrick, the data scientist at Hired who authored the report. “When you consider that San Diego is a lot cheaper place to live, it becomes the fourth highest-paid location where we place candidates.”
Only Austin, Denver and Seattle ranked higher on the adjusted scale.
Hired analyzed more than 280,000 interview requests and job offers made through its service during 2016 for its second annual State of Global Tech Salaries report, released Thursday. Cost of living was calculated using a site called Numbeo, which has developed its own index that considers local factors such as taxes and how much users self-report spending on things like groceries, rent, clothing and transportation.
Numbeo was chosen because the tool incorporates the most varied data sources, Kirkpatrick said.
The tech salary report arrives amid a concerted push among local officials — including Mayor Kevin Faulconer — and area tech leaders to elevate San Diego’s startup profile. Through a number of initiatives, including a Feb. 1 job fair in Mountain View, local advocates aim to convince Bay Area businesses and engineers, that despite the region’s venture capital shortcomings, they should relocate here.
While a Silicon Valley exodus seems unlikely, Hired has observed, among its audience of 45,000 job seekers, a trend of workers relocating from the Bay Area to other markets, Kirkpatrick said.
For all tech positions in San Diego offered through Hired, 18 percent of offers in 2016 went to candidates from San Francisco, according to the company.
Though Hired’s findings may echo the San-Diego-is-better narrative, the region’s cost-of-living savings could get pinched if current market trends continue.
Last year, for instance, home prices in the county increased 4.2 percent during a 12 month period. Also, as of September, San Diego rents had increased nearly 9 percent in the prior 12 months.
