Report ranks Boston a top city for tech workers despite sweeping layoffs. What do you think?

A new report ranked Boston as a Top 10 city for tech workers just as some large employers announced significant layoffs. 

Cloudwards reported that Boston is the eighth best city in the United States for tech professionals, besting places such as Los Angeles, Seattle, and Philadelphia. Only San Francisco and New York are more conducive to startups than the New England city, the cloud technology publication said. 

Sara Fraim, chief executive of the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council, said she thinks the city — which has venture funding flowing in, a large startup scene, and top universities — should be ranked even higher, but transportation troubles and high housing costs may be holding it back.

“I think it’s a nightmare. … It’s got an enormous impact,” Fraim said of housing costs here.

The produce review site announced the rankings on Feb. 29 during a period when several large tech employers in Boston have announced layoffs. Online retailer Wayfair announced in January that it would cut 1,650 jobs. Restaurant software firm Toast announced in February that it would reduce its workforce by 10%, and Uber is slashing 168 jobs as it shutters Boston-founded drink-delivery service Drizly. 

During the pandemic, tech employers hired a lot of workers to meet needs that were unsustainable in the long term, Fraim said, because “not everyone was going to just sit and shop … in their home.”

“In this post-COVID world” with ongoing supply chain issues, Fraim said, “the pendulum had to sort of even out, and I think that these companies are just doing that. Many of the companies that had large layoffs still have more employees than pre-pandemic levels.”

Fraim said there are a lot of job openings, so laid-off tech workers have options. Barring geopolitical issues, Fraim said, CEOs she works with are “cautiously optimistic” about the atmosphere of the region’s tech sector.

In its rankings, Cloudwards considered livability, internet quality, innovation, the strength of the tech communities, as well as career and educational opportunities in the nation’s 100 most populous cities. While Boston’s entrepreneurship opportunities stood out, its internet coverage and quality ranked in the bottom half, at No. 59.

The report also ranked Boston seventh in the career and education category, considering technology job openings, university programs, and the number of tech-related companies.

New York City, the District of Columbia, and San Francisco topped the sites rankings. Economists said the California city’s labor force and economy are “showing resilience despite higher interest rates and ongoing job cuts in tech,” The San Francisco Chronicle reported last month. Founders, and especially women at companies’ helms‚ have told Fraim that it’s slightly easier to get funding in the West Coast state, she said. 

Boston’s offers spaces for young people in tech to meet one another, Fraim said, and the region doesn’t just focus on “one big thing.”

“The depth of our industries, our different industries here for tech, is so significant,” Fraim said, “so, I think that makes it unique.”

There is also a lot of support and structure for startups in Boston, Fraim said. But when they grow and scale, she gets nervous that they won’t stay here, she said. 

According to a 2023 report from the leadership council, which is the region’s largest technology association, the state’s tech workforce gained 440,000 workers between 2018 and 2022, and the sector comprised 17% of Massachusetts’ GDP and 14% of its workforce in 2022. 

But 17,000 tech workers left Massachusetts in 2022 for California, Illinois, and other hubs, while only 15,000 workers moved into the Bay State, according to the report. “Of the workers who leave Massachusetts for other states, 76.3% are between the ages of 20 and 40, likely exacerbating the challenge of having a more diverse workforce.”

The workers leaving Massachusetts, Fraim said, are in the age range of people who are ready to start a family and put down roots. The high cost of housing affects tech workers and needs to shift at a policy level, she added, and young people who don’t want cars opt for ride-shares that get caught in traffic rather than the region’s public transportation system.

“We do have luck on our side in that we educate the world. And so a lot of people do come here for college,” Fraim said. “We just need to figure out how to keep them here.”