Chapter 8
What are the up-and-coming markets for Tech Talent?
Scoring Tech Talent 2025
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The rising importance of technology in business and society has caused a global expansion of tech talent labor pools and implementation of more distributed labor strategies by tech talent employers seeking innovation potential and efficiency. Latin America and smaller interior U.S. and Canadian markets have experienced tech talent growth as a result.
Latin America has long been an important source of tech talent for North America, initially focused on manufacturing and business services. During the most recent economic cycle, Latin America’s tech talent has increasingly focused on software development and innovation. This has attracted many multinational technology companies to the region, as well as further developed Latin America’s own technology industry.
Over the past five years, Latin America’s tech talent workforce has boomed. While costs have risen with rapid growth, average wages in Latin America remain about 39% of those in the U.S. The three largest Latin American tech talent markets are Mexico City, Sao Paulo and Santiago, while the fastest growing is Monterrey, Mexico. Real estate costs are also relatively low, making Latin America an even more attractive option for tech talent employers.
Figure 39: Top Latin American Markets
1 Jobs related to the development, operation, monitoring and support of the digitized information transmission processes.
2 Based on 2024 annual average exchange rates.
3 Submarkets where tech firms are predominantly located.
4 Submarkets where tech employees predominantly live.
Tech Talent Workforce: A group of highly skilled workers in more than 20 technology-oriented occupations driving innovation across all industries.
Average Salary: Average yearly salary for a software engineer.
Recent Tech Grads: Number of people who graduated with a tech-related bachelor’s degree or higher in 2023.
Figure 39: Top Latin American Markets
1 Jobs related to the development, operation, monitoring and support of the digitized information transmission processes.
2 Based on 2024 annual average exchange rates.
3 Submarkets where tech firms are predominantly located.
4 Submarkets where tech employees predominantly live.
North America's Next 25
Fostering talent development in lesser-known and underdeveloped U.S. and Canadian markets could offer additional talent pools to employers seeking to expand their geographical reach and uncover opportunities. They have been separately ranked from the top 50 markets according to their relative strength. In the U.S., most of them are in the Midwest and South.
Figure 40: North America's Next 25 Markets
Note: Markets were separately ranked according to their relative strength based on eight of the 13 metrics used for the top 50.
* Data in US$
North America's Next 25
Fostering talent development in lesser-known and underdeveloped U.S. and Canadian markets could offer additional talent pools to employers seeking to expand their geographical reach and uncover opportunities. They have been separately ranked from the top 50 markets according to their relative strength. In the U.S., most of them are in the Midwest and South.
Figure 40: North America's Next 25 Markets
Note: Markets were separately ranked according to their relative strength based on eight of the 13 metrics used for the top 50.
* Data in US$
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