We talk a lot about how to get hired as data scientists, but it’s time for our annual roundup of where to get hired as a data scientist for 2020. Without further ado, here are the top picks for best data science cities, and they couldn’t be a more diverse bunch.
Some offer the most exciting tech advances. Others have an excellent cost of living. Some have thriving and supportive communities. All of them are fantastic places to get your first (or next) data science job.
In no particular order because they’re all different.
San Francisco, California
We always come back to the Silicon Valley area, but this year it’s San Francisco. It has excellent weather, plenty of job offers in a variety of data science positions, including data science, data engineering (our top pick for data science job titles for 2020!), machine learning engineering, and AI.
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Average salaries for these positions hover around $140k -$150k with top salaries reported as high as $179k. The city is building new types of communities and housing, and currently has some of the best data science style boot camps in the world. Plus, there’s a thriving community of theoretical data scientists at the universities and companies in the city.
Milan, Italy
What do fashion, art, and data and a ten million-square-foot theme park for science with green space and self-driving cars have in common? It’s all in Milan. The city is an absolute dream if your interests extend beyond the realm of data science, you’ve got the fashion world out your front door, classic art, fantastic food, and Big Analytics.
If the possibility of watching a planned space with an eye towards new tech pop up, you’ve got meetups (ODSC is one), conferences (yep, we’ve got one too) and a thriving job market with salaries that match up to Europe’s cost of living, so you’ll be able to enjoy it while you’re there.
Atlanta, Georgia
This unsung gem of the south is the biggest hub for Fortune 500 companies in the southeast. It has an affordable cost of living, a booming movie industry, and one of the best tech universities in the country, Georgia Tech, number eight specifically in computer science specifically.
It’s home to excellent meetups, plenty of analytics firms, and outstanding salaries with good job prospects – it’s especially keen to hire data engineers. And with Atlanta’s newly created Tech Village, you’ll have plenty of support.
Nashville, Tennessee
Long known for its music scene, the best-kept secret may be its thriving tech scene. RentCafe recently named it the number three emerging tech hub in the US, and quite a few Silicon Valley startups recently opened branches, including Lyft, Postmates, and Eventbrite.
It’s also home to an $84 billion health economy and a slew of startups, including EyeBuy—a company that lets users buy what they see in music videos. Plus, with boot camps and Vanderbilt University’s new data science initiative, you’ll be in good company.
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Sao Paulo is bringing South America to the world tech stage with an estimated 2700 tech startups in that city alone. It’s the Latin American base for around 65% of fortune 500 companies and tech giants like Google, Netflix, and Amazon. It’s home to startup unicorns, and it’s the tenth richest city in the world.
There’s Sao Paulo tech week, a good range of jobs, and as the most connected city in the country of Brazil, a good range of Smart City projects cropping up. It’s forward-thinking and boasts great weather and nightlife. If you’re looking beyond US borders and Europe isn’t your thing, Sao Paulo is your answer.
Boston, Massachusetts
Boston ranks consistently as a leading tech hub outside Silicon Valley and with startups, some of the greatest university systems the US offers, and plenty of big names stationed in the city. It’s a data science dream town.
ODSC is here too, along with meetups and conferences designed to support you in your career. It has a history of successful startups and plenty to keep you entertained from nightlife to food, to history.
Austin, Texas
Austin is another southern city enjoying a tech renaissance with companies like Apple and Juul relocating to take advantage of the economy. Apple’s headquarters there, in fact, is the largest outside its Cupertino office. South by Southwest, long a showcase for what’s new and trending, is based in Austin.
It includes incubators for the city’s many startups, an excellent cost of living, and a commitment to “keeping Austin weird” for those of you sick of the status quo. Plus, you can still get in before tech drives up the cost of living.
Seoul, South Korea
Seoul could be one of the best places to get on board with the startup and innovation lab market, and with lots of South Korea’s pension dollars now going towards funding these smaller ventures. The rest of the appeal lies in Korea’s more traditional chaebol firms, including Samsung.
This startup culture is highly diverse, making it difficult to know what’s going on sometimes. Still, with multiple unicorn startups in recent years and a venture into blockchain markets, it’s an exciting city for data scientists looking for a career off the beaten path.
Delhi, India
India is the fast-growing tech hub in the world, with Delhi taking on the lion’s share of funding and attention and boasts some of the youngest entrepreneurs in the world. It’s not only investments that are pouring in either; more US companies are seeking to acquire local startups to enter this complex yet necessary market.
The currency exchange puts average salaries well below western countries, hovering around the equivalent of $7000 to $21,000 USD per year, but with the cost of living at a fraction of that. It’s an excellent testing ground for new markets and built for a young entrepreneur spirit.
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How We Chose
All salary estimations come from Glassdoor (job title + salary + city) unless otherwise noted. Job availability comes from indeed.com, and we prioritized both the cost of living, job opportunities, and innovation trends. Let us know if your favorite city is (or isn’t) on the list this time. Now go out and get hired as a data scientist for 2020!
