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The Most Affordable Markets for Techies

Silicon Valley and California has long been heralded as the epicenter of the tech world. 

However, a new report by realtor.com shows there is more life in the tech world than living in Silicon Valley. Realtor.com listed the best tech markets outside of California [1], and found Huntsville, Alabama, to be the best affordable tech-metro in the nation. 

The median-home price as of July was $315,000, but within San Francisco limits, realtor.com reports most will pay $1.43 million. San Jose’s median-home prices come in at $994,000. Information from Glassdoor [2], though, find that average information technology worker makes $80,512 annually. Realtor.com states a 20$ down payment is roughly four times the annual income. 

"Silicon Valley's extremely low unemployment rate—due to the abundance of tech jobs there—has caused housing costs to skyrocket," says David Armendariz, general manager of the technology division for recruitment firm Lucas Group.

The average home in Huntsville, though, costs just $266,256. Huntsville is also home to the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, the U.S. government's civilian rocketry and spacecraft propulsion research center.

A study by the information technology association CompTIA, IT workers in the market make an average of $91,998, and the number of IT jobs is expected to grow by 4% over the next five years. 

Dallas and its median-home price of $349,950 came in at No. 2. Midlothian, which is located 25 miles south of Dallas, is home to Google’s 375-acre call center. Demand for IT jobs in Dallas is expected to grow 10% over the next five years. 

Following those two markets were, Baltimore, Maryland; Chicago, Illinois; Atlanta, Georgia; Austin, Texas; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Raleigh, North Carolina; Detroit, Michigan; and Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

Realtor.com states that Austin has been dubbed “mini Silicon Valley,” as it is home the fifth-largest share of IT jobs in the country. Companies such as Dell Computer, IBM, Amazon, and Apple all have offices in Texas’ capital.