After a rough 2025, the tech job market is pointing back up.
CompTIA's State of the Tech Workforce report, released March 24, projects net tech employment will grow by 1.9% in 2026, adding 185,499 jobs to bring the national tech workforce to nearly 9.8 million. That's a meaningful reversal from 2025, when tech employment actually dipped 0.3% as companies pulled back hiring during the post-boom recalibration.
"The fundamentals of tech employment remain on solid footing," said Seth Robinson, VP of industry research at CompTIA. The key driver: AI. More than 275,000 active job postings in January 2026 required some level of AI skills — ranging from dedicated AI engineer roles to positions that simply require AI fluency alongside other functions.
Texas is expected to lead the country with 32,238 new tech jobs in 2026, followed by California (16,949), Florida (14,453), New York (13,566), and Washington (9,524).
At the metro level, New York City and Dallas are projected to post the largest increases. Austin, Seattle, and San Francisco round out the top five.
The seven sectors driving the most AI-related hiring: technology, professional services, finance and insurance, manufacturing, administrative services, retail, and healthcare.
This isn't just an AI story. Healthcare tech, cybersecurity, and cloud infrastructure are all adding jobs too. CompTIA notes that tech occupations are on track to grow roughly twice as fast as overall U.S. employment over the next decade.
Even the broader labor market is showing some resilience. Wages grew 3.8% year-over-year in February, and layoffs remain historically low even as hiring has slowed. The economy isn't exactly booming — but it's not collapsing under the weight of everything going on either.
For anyone in tech, or thinking about getting there, the window looks open.
