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CompTIA Cyberstates 2017™ finds state is home to 2,000 tech businesses and 13,000-plus tech professionals

Helena, Mont. – Employment in Montana’s technology industry grew by 4.5 percent in 2016, as employers added an estimated 563 new jobs, according to Cyberstates 2017™, the definitive annual analysis of the nation’s tech industry released today by CompTIA, the world’s leading technology industry association.

With an estimated 13,201 workers, Montana ranks 47^th among the 50 states in tech industry employment.

Technology occupations across all other industries in Montana – the second component of the tech workforce – reached an estimated 14,100 in 2016.

The tech sector accounts for an estimated 3.7 percent ($1.7 billion) of the Montana economy.

The annualized average wage for a tech industry worker in Montana was an estimated $68,700 in 2016, 71 percent higher than the average state wage ($40,300).

Other Key Findings

• Montana ranks 36^th among all states in the Cyberstates 2017 Innovation Score, which is based on an analysis of new tech patents, tech startups and new tech business establishments on a per capita basis.
• The state is home to an estimated 2,038 tech business establishments.
• The tech industry employs an estimated 2.9 percent of the overall state workforce.
• Leading tech occupations include computer user support specialists (2,030), computer programmers (840) and application software developers (790).
• The strongest year-over-year job growth occurred in the categories of computer systems design and IT services (+ 13.2 percent) and engineering services (+ 2.3 percent).
• Employers across Montana posted an estimated 914 job openings for tech occupations in Q4 2016.

Cyberstates 2017 is based on CompTIA’s analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, EMSI, and other sources. Estimates for 2016 are subject to change as government data is revised and updated. The complete report with full national, state and metropolitan level data is available at http://www.cyberstates.org/.

The complete report with full national, state and metropolitan level data is available at http://www.cyberstates.org/.

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Contact:

Preston Grisham
CompTIA
pgrisham@comptia.org
(202) 862-4458

Steven Ostrowski
CompTIA
sostrowski@comptia.org
(630) 678-8468