Houston Ranked Among Best Metro Areas for STEM Professionals

HOUSTON, TX -- Houston has just been ranked among the best U.S. cities for STEM--science, technology, engineering and math--professionals. Demand for these professionals has grown, as has their salaries, personal-finance website WalletHub said in a new report.

"They pay higher salaries and boast far fewer threats of unemployment compared with other types of jobs. According to the latest BLS statistics, medical scientists can expect the most graduate-level job openings at around 12,100 per year. Biochemists and biophysicists enjoy the highest median wage, at $91,190," WalletHub said.

To determine the top markets for STEM workers, WalletHub compared the 100 biggest metro areas across 20 metrics, including per-capita job openings for STEM graduates to annual median wage growth for STEM workers, the organization said.

Houston was ranked number 33 in the U.S. while Dallas was at 38 and Austin at 4.

The data is sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Council for Community and Economic Research, and the Institute for Women's Policy Research, among others.

Other findings, according to WalletHub:

• Atlanta has the most per-capita overall STEM job openings for STEM graduates, 100.15, which is 53.6 times higher than in Deltona, Florida, the metro area with the fewest at 1.87.
• San Jose, California, has the highest share of all workers in STEM occupations, 20.50 percent, which is 14.6 times higher than in McAllen, Texas, the metro area with the lowest at 1.40 percent.
• Washington has the highest projected number of STEM jobs per capita needed by 2020, 14.86 percent, which is 13.8 times higher than in Las Vegas, the metro area with the lowest at 1.08 percent.
• Houston has the highest annual median wage for STEM workers (adjusted by cost of living), $98,750, which is 2.3 times higher than in Honolulu, the metro area with the lowest at $42,512

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