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Kansas City Ranked Among Top Cities in Tech by Site Selection Group

  • February 11, 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted labor markets across the U.S. due to increased unemployment and the transition to work-from-home. The tech sector has been in the spotlight of this transition with companies like Twitter, Facebook, Google and others announcing more permanent work-from-home strategies. However, one thing that remains critical to the success of all companies is the ability to attract and retain highly skilled talent.

Although the physical location of where these employees are working may be changing, the need to source tech talent is even more relevant, and finding labor markets with the greatest supply of talent is more important than ever. Enter Kansas City, Missouri.

Kansas City, Missouri, was recently ranked among the top tech cities in the U.S. by Site Selection Group. Kansas City is attractive to tech companies due to its affordable cost of living, low cost of labor, and availability of highly skilled talent. Additionally, Kansas City has regularly been ranked the best city in the U.S. for women in tech.

Missouri’s tech workforce includes thousands of the top IT talent, and it’s expected to grow even more in the coming years. Between 2018 and 2023, the state’s tech workforce is expected to grow by 9.5%, ranking it ninth among U.S. states. Just last year, Missouri was highlighted among the six hot emerging tech hubs for IT job seekers by CIO.

One of the state’s newest initiatives to increase the number of tech professionals in the state is to target a new key demographic: workers laid off due to COVID-19. The Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development recently teamed up with CompTIA, a nonprofit technology trade association, to provide free IT training to individuals whose employment has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The technology workforce is one of the largest and fastest growing segments of the U.S. labor market, even amidst the continuing uncertainties of COVID-19,” said Mark Plunkett, Senior Director of Global Training Operations and Business Development for CompTIA Custom Training. “By committing resources to this unique training program, Missouri has taken a positive step to expand the state’s tech workforce. More importantly, the state is opening the door to new career options for some of its citizens. CompTIA is prepared to lend its full support to this effort.”

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