4 Reasons Why North Carolina Tech Companies Are Thriving
At the beginning of 2023, I joined Tech Elevator as the market leader for North Carolina to support our growing number of National Live Remote students, alumni, and hiring partners in the region. 
While you’ve probably heard much about our favorite storm-themed hockey team lately, there’s even more between the mountains and beaches worth discussing. Starting long before the Wright brothers first took flight in the Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina has been one of the best places to live and work, drawing more attention and presence from big-name companies along with drawing in top talent from around the world.
Continue reading to learn more about what else is brewing (besides sweet tea) in North Carolina and discover the four reasons why it’s becoming a fast-growing, tech powerhouse.
1. The jobs are in North Carolina, with more on the way.
Ranking both Charlotte and Raleigh in the top 15, the RCLCO STEMdex has become a recurring annual publication that represents a way to track the best and brightest future STEM markets.
This list of cities emphasizes the number of young, educated talent bolstering local economies, the number of high-performing ecosystems of STEM professionals, and a city’s quality of life to determine its rankings.
The Index also highlights critical metropolitan areas that represent current strongholds of employment and those likely to see positive growth in these industries in the coming years. The cities on this list are forecasted to continue outperforming the U.S. average.
Outside of North Carolina, Texas and California were the only other states with multiple cities ranked as high.
2. North Carolina can support growing tech companies.
North Carolina has been a thriving technology hub since the 1950s, which started as a collaboration of local universities and leaders. These leaders rallied together a multi-county region that later became the Research Triangle. Paired with the resiliency of Charlotte’s financial and manufacturing industries, North Carolina now has the perfect combination of tech companies and network infrastructure to make it the next center of development for future technologies. North Carolina tech companies are growing and their success is drawing in more influential companies to the region.
In fact, Apple, Google, Meta, and more have all announced new offices and major projects coming soon to North Carolina, building upon existing efforts and creating thousands of new jobs.
3. Three of the top ten Boomtowns are in North Carolina.
Analyzing even more post-pandemic trends, LendingTree looked at which cities have changed (for the better) since 2019. While not in first place (kudos to Austin, Texas), North Carolina placed three cities (Durham, Raleigh, and Charlotte) within the top ten boomtowns, according to eight key metrics from the study.
What’s pushing the continued growth?
“People — especially work-from-home employees — are leaving for warm weather and lower taxes,” says LendingTree chief credit analyst Matt Schulz.
4. Multiple sources are ranking North Carolina number one.
In 2022, CNBC ranked North Carolina as America’s “top state for business” due to its recent economic growth and record for innovation. Last year, government statistics showed that North Carolina’s economic growth hit 6.7 percent, and its job growth was 3.6 percent.
Along with being one of the nation’s top economies, North Carolina also ranked first for having the best business climate by Business Facilities. The state earned this ranking for its recent investments in growing companies and its ability to attract new business. In May 2022, four companies in North Carolina received a total of $104M from investments in a single week.
While North Carolina didn’t rank number one, the state came in second to Maine as the best state for women in tech, with women being 36 percent of the tech workforce. If you’re looking for more rankings on how great NC is, check out the NC Tech Association’s recent State of the Tech Industry Report.
Ready to make a career change and join a North Carolina coding bootcamp?
As North Carolina continues to establish itself as one of America’s top states for business and a thriving tech hub, the opportunities for jobs and a successful career in tech increase. Explore how you can transform your career in as little as 14 or 30 weeks with Tech Elevator’s coding bootcamp. Check out Tech Elevator’s Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham pages for more information.
If you’re ready to take the next step in your career and become a software developer, then take our Aptitude Test to get started.
