Columbus has been mentioned a few times over the years as a growing tech job market. Forbes named it the #1 Up and Coming Tech City in 2008, for example, although Forbes seems to randomly choose cities for its exhausting number of rankings each year, so that can be taken with a grain of salt. So is Columbus as a tech city really a thing? The latest ranking suggests it might be.

The actual tech growth numbers aren’t subjective. Out of the 51 largest metros, here is how Columbus ranked the last decade or so in STEM jobs (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).

2001-2012 % Growth in Total STEM Jobs: +10.4% Rank of 51: 13th
2005-2012 % Growth in Total STEM Jobs: +12.8% Rank of 51: 9th
2010-2012 % Growth in Total STEM Jobs: +4.7% Rank of 51: 16th
2012 Location Quotient*: 1.27 LQ Rank of 51: 14th
2001-2012 Location Quotient Change: +7.6% Change Rank of 51: 5th

*Location Quotient is the local share of STEM jobs divided by the national share of STEM jobs. Anything above 1.0 indicates that the local share is higher than the national average.

So Columbus is clearly doing well and is handily beating out many much larger cities. It is one of only two Midwestern cities in the top 15 (Indianapolis is #15), and its rate of growth in concentration of STEM jobs is in the top 5 nationally. As the article discusses, traditional tech centers are actually losing STEM jobs while other areas, like Columbus, are gradually becoming bigger players. A well-educated workforce is paramount, and one of Columbus’ greatest strengths is its abundance of colleges and universities and young population. There are over 100,000 students in the area, and this ensures a strong workforce available for tech jobs. An example of how this attracts new STEM jobs was the recently announced plan by IBM to open its worldwide HQ for Advanced Analytics in Dublin along with 500 new jobs. The article with more details on this project can be found here.