Market Indicators According to Job Postings
by Role, Skill, and Geography
Overview
The defensive mobility patterns outlined in this report reflect concrete shifts happening in the hiring market right now. Understanding where demand is concentrating, which skills command higher pay, and how geographic markets are changing gives you strategic clarity for forming your next steps.
This page provides granular market data on salary trends, job volume changes, and regional hiring patterns that you can use to refine your job search strategy, prioritize skill development, and make informed decisions about geographic mobility. The tables that follow reveal which roles are gaining or losing ground, which skills are worth investing in, where hiring activity is concentrating, and how these indicators connect to the pressures and opportunities you're navigating in 2025.
Use this data to move beyond assumptions about where the market is headed, and instead ground your career decisions in what the hiring market actually shows about tech employment in the year ahead.
→ Salaries and growth trends by region
2025 Average Tech Salary
Growth Since 2024
Report Methodology
To present the job postings and salary analysis on this page, Dice used data provided by Dice’s partner, Lightcast, which maintains a database of more than 3 billion current and historical job postings worldwide. Dice pulled data on January 30, 2026 and analyzed over 7 million tech job postings in the U.S. to construct this dataset, which was filtered for “Information Technology” roles.
Salary data represents the median advertised compensation extracted directly from job postings where pay information is provided by the employer. To ensure robust reporting, Dice analyzed salary trends only for geographies, job titles, and skills with at least 5,000 U.S. tech job postings in 2025. These figures reflect advertised pay trends in the hiring market and may differ from final compensation offered or negotiated.
Geographic Trends
States showing volume growth alongside salary increases (California +9% volume, +9% salary; Texas +5% volume, +4% salary; New York +15% volume, +4% salary) indicate sustained demand where competition for roles will be higher but opportunities more plentiful. Conversely, high-salary states with flat or declining volume (Massachusetts +8% volume despite +2% salary; Virginia 0% volume despite +6% salary) suggest fewer openings but potentially less competition per role.
At the metro level, emerging tech hubs show explosive growth: Austin-Round Rock (+23% volume), Denver-Aurora-Centennial (+9% volume), and Columbus, OH (+16% volume) are absorbing talent with competitive salaries that don't carry the coastal cost-of-living premium. Meanwhile, legacy tech centers like San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont (+18% volume, +7% salary) and Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue (-7% volume, +1% salary) reveal divergent trajectories.
What this means for your job search: If you're open to geographic mobility, growing secondary markets offer strong hiring volume with lower competition and more affordable living costs. If you're anchored to a specific region, volume trends help you calibrate expectations—declining volume means longer search timelines, while growth markets may offer faster placement. Salary growth indicates where negotiation leverage exists, even in a defensive market.
2025 Average Tech Salaries, by City
2025 Job Posting Volume, by City
2025 Average Tech Salaries, by State
2025 Job Posting Volume, by State
Job Title Trends
The top 50 tech job titles show salary growth across the board (all at 3% or higher), but volume trends reveal where demand is concentrating—and where it's contracting. AI-related roles dominate growth: Artificial Intelligence Engineers (+208%), Full Stack Engineers (+26%), and Machine Learning Engineers (+52%) lead volume increases, signaling employers' urgent need for AI capabilities. Traditional enterprise roles are contracting—Software Development Engineers (-16%), Java Developers (-4%), and Business Systems Analysts (-10%)—as organizations shift toward modern tech stacks.
What this means for your job search: High-growth titles will be competitive but plentiful. If you're targeting these roles, expect faster application-to-interview cycles but more candidate competition. Declining-volume roles mean fewer openings and potentially longer search timelines, but less competition per posting. If your current title is declining in volume, consider how your skills translate to adjacent high-growth roles. Prioritize learning paths that align with high-growth roles. AI/ML fundamentals, modern full-stack development, and cloud-native architectures are where hiring momentum is building. If you're in a declining-volume role, upskilling toward these areas improves your positioning even if you're not pivoting entirely.
2025 Average Tech Salaries, by Job Title
2025 Job Posting Volume, by Job Title
Skill Trends
Skills demand data exposes the AI transformation reshaping tech hiring at the ground level. Innovation in AI leads volume growth with a significant 7% salary increase and 16% volume surge, followed by Troubleshooting (+19% volume) and Power BI (+19% volume) as organizations invest in AI implementation and data-driven decision-making. Workflow Management exploded 49% in volume as companies operationalize AI into existing processes.
Traditional programming languages show divergent paths: Python (+18% volume) and SQL (+5% volume) remain resilient due to AI/data science applications, while JavaScript and Project Management both declined 4-6% as organizations deprioritize legacy web development and consolidate project roles. Cloud infrastructure skills (Microsoft Azure +23%, DevOps +18%, Docker +29%) continue strong growth, reinforcing that AI adoption requires modern infrastructure capabilities.
What this means for skill development: Employers are gravitating toward candidates with AI-adjacent skill combinations—Python + Machine Learning, Cloud + Automation—rather than isolated legacy skills. If you already have foundational programming or infrastructure experience, layering in AI tools, cloud platforms, or automation skills significantly improves your marketability. Even if you're not pivoting to AI-focused roles, understanding how AI integrates into your domain (whether that's testing, DevOps, or data analysis) positions you as someone who can operate in 2026's tech landscape, not 2020's.
2025 Average Tech Salaries, by Skill
2025 Job Posting Volume, by Skill
What now?
The tech job market has changed a lot in the last few years. Your strategy should shift with it. Understanding where demand is building, which skills employers are prioritizing, and how compensation is changing gives you the clarity to move strategically rather than reactively. Create a profile on Dice to get matched with roles aligned to these market trends.