America’s Tech Career Hotspots Revealed – Michigan Ranks 14th as Tech Grads Earn 71% More than Peers

Photo by Mimi Thian on Unsplash

Article courtesy of TryHackMe. 

• Tech graduates in Alaska earn a median salary of $76,773 four years after graduating, 146% above the state median for all graduates of $31,197.
• Tuition in Wyoming runs to just $10,537 a year, one of the cheapest in the top ten, and 26% of all degree holders graduate from tech programs, the highest share nationally.
• Rhode Island comes in last out of all 50 states, where tuition averages $26,628 a year; the state scored just 1.04 out of ten.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs in tech and computing are set to grow much faster than other fields between 2024 and 2034, with an estimated 317,700 openings projected each year across America.

The team at TryHackMe, a hands-on cybersecurity training platform, has revealed the best and worst states for a tech career. And curiously, Alaska, not California or Washington, is the best state in America for a career in technology.

To determine the ranking, the team at TryHackMe studied the following factors from College Scorecard per state and put them into an index:

1. The average yearly cost of a tech degree
2. The percentage of tech graduates out of all graduates
3. The median earnings of a tech graduate in comparison to the average graduate

Michigan’s findings

Michigan places 14th overall with a score of 4.93 out of ten, sitting just outside the top tier despite offering a solid balance of access and earnings. The state has 173 institutions offering tech courses, with average annual tuition at $16,366, and tech graduates earn a median salary of $57,680 four years after finishing – around 71% higher than the $33,657 earned by the average graduate.

While that uplift is strong, it falls short of the bigger premiums seen in the top ten, which limits Michigan’s overall position. Across the wider job market, tech roles in the state pay an average of $99,389, slightly below the national benchmark, though top-end roles such as Computer Network Architects can still reach $118,280.

The ten best states for a tech career

Alaska scored 7.31 out of ten, and what carries it is the earnings gap. A tech graduate in the state makes $76,773 within four years of finishing, against just $31,197 for the average graduate – a 146% premium, second only to Utah. Only nine schools offer tech courses, with annual costs averaging $12,982, and Software Developers at the top of the scale earn $132,940.

Second-placed Wyoming scored 7.02 and is the second cheapest state to study tech in the top ten, at $10,537 a year across ten schools. About 26% of the state’s degree holders come from tech programs, the highest proportion in the country. Those graduates earn $60,313 four years out, about half again as much as the $40,050 all-graduate figure; Information Security Analysts at the top end make $122,570.

Utah, in third place at 6.89, has the single biggest gap between what tech graduates earn and what everyone else takes home. Where the typical graduate earns $29,635, a tech graduate pulls in $74,702; that is a 152% jump. The 63 schools offering tech courses cost more here than in Alaska or Wyoming ($16,387 a year), but Computer Network Architects at the top end can earn $148,470.

Kentucky came in fourth with a score of 6.25. Tuition costs in the state reach $14,657 a year across 87 schools and a quarter of degree holders finish in tech. The $49,798 that a tech graduate earns four years after finishing is 58% above the $31,450 all-graduate median. Software Developers lead the state’s pay scale at $114,200.

Maryland, with a 6.14 score and in fifth place, pays its tech graduates well in absolute terms, not just relative ones. Where other states in the top ten gain their advantage from cheap tuition, Maryland trades on raw pay. A tech graduate there makes $66,943 within four years, two-thirds above the $40,342 all-graduate median, and the average tech salary state-wide is $125,229, which runs 17% above the national average. Software Developers at the top can hit $150,800. Eighty schools offer tech programs at an average cost of $16,875.

Oklahoma came in sixth with a score of 5.84. The state’s 102 schools offer tech courses at just $12,241 a year, one of the cheapest price tags in the study. At $55,039 four years out, tech graduates earn 68% more than the $32,833 all-graduate median, with Database Architects commanding $133,880 at the top of the scale. The state’s average tech salary of $98,664 trails the national figure by 8%, but the cheap cost of entry goes some way toward closing that gap.

Montana, in seventh place with a score of 5.72, is another state where cheap tuition carries most of the weight. Average annual degree costs run to just $12,787 across 29 schools. Tech graduates earn $58,204 four years after graduation, which is 72% above the all-graduate median of $33,919; Database Architects top the pay scale at $124,500.

North Carolina has 174 schools offering tech courses, the highest count of any state in the top ten, which helped it to eighth place at 5.40. A tech graduate earns $59,303 there, some 67% above the $35,484 all-graduate median. The state’s average tech salary of $110,407 runs 4% above the national figure, and at the top end Computer and Information Research Scientists take home $132,560.

West Virginia has the cheapest tuition of any state in the study at $10,511 a year, enough to carry it to ninth place with 5.32 out of ten. Across 70 schools, tech graduates earn $53,683, some 74% above the all-graduate median of $30,807. At the top of the pay scale, though, one figure jumps out: Computer and Information Research Scientists in the state can earn $187,000, more than any other single tech role in the top ten.

North Dakota completes the top ten with a score of 5.14 and a quiet set of numbers: 27 schools, $12,912 a year on average, and a tech graduate who pockets $69,663 four years out, some 69% above the $41,201 all-graduate median. The average tech salary state-wide is $93,181, which trails the national figure by 13%, though Computer Network Architects at the top can still earn $115,190.

Commenting on the study, Ben Spring, Co-Founder of TryHackMe said: “The prospects for tech graduates are among the best in any field, and it’s only set to grow stronger with the Bureau of Labor Statistics projecting that tech is likely to have a bigger job boom than most sectors.

“This study highlights where in the US tech graduates will see the best prospects compared to their fellow graduates, with states such as Maine and Rhode Island needing to invest more into tech courses and job markets to compete with the likes of Alaska and Wyoming.

Methodology

TryHackMe analyzed tech-related degree programs across all 50 US states using data from the College Scorecard. Each state was evaluated based on tuition costs, graduate outcomes, and the share of students studying technology-related subjects.

While five factors were reviewed overall, the final ranking index was built using three key metrics:

• The average yearly cost of a tech degree (inversely scored, so lower costs rank higher)
• The percentage of tech graduates out of all graduates
• The earnings premium for tech graduates compared to the average graduate in the same state

The earnings premium was calculated as the percentage difference between median earnings for tech graduates and median earnings for all graduates four years after graduation.

Each metric was normalized and equally weighted to create a composite score out of ten for every state.

Separate data on the highest-paying tech roles in each state was sourced from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Full data: