13 Best Cities On The Planet To Get Hired As A Data Scientist
Data scientist jobs have skyrocketed 75 percent since 2015 with steady growth over 2016, 2017, and 2018. You have the world at your beckoning right now, but narrowing down where to go if you aren’t already tied to one city could be tough.
Here is our 2019 official recommendation for cities, often overlooked to consider, if you’re looking to make a move. We’ve chosen based on the number of open positions, cost of living, and standard of living (because man can’t live on numbers alone). Let’s take a look at multiple cities ranging from leading American cities to up-and-comers in Europe and more.
1. Raleigh-Durham
This mid-sized, semi-southern town has been on lists for a while as an alternative to Silicon Valley, but we mean it. It has good weather, excellent cost of living, and far lower cost of housing as compared to places like San Francisco.
The famed triangle (Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill) are known for technology and research (home to Lenovo and Cisco among others), inviting a younger population with a median age of 36.2 and an average salary of just over $52,000 annually. Data Science salaries here are just over six figures on average, giving you plenty of purchasing power. Currently, there are roughly 500 job postings.
2.Phoenix, Arizona
Another rising star in technology, Phoenix boasts warm weather, excellent cost of living, and plenty of culture. The average salary for a data scientist here is close to $140,000 on average, while the average median salary is just under $50,000. Combined with excellent housing and standard of living, your purchasing power goes a long way. Plus, high tourist numbers actually saves you about $1000 per year in taxes.
3. Atlanta, Georgia
Our third US city is the biggest hub for Fortune 500 companies in the southeast. The standard of living cost alone is highly affordable while the town itself attracts some of the biggest names in music, shopping, and tech. Plus, with a booming movie industry, you may just run into your first celebrity without having to set foot in LA traffic.
4. Dublin, Ireland
Dublin is the newest cloud gateway to Europe as a home to a cluster of big data centers. It includes server farms for Google, Amazon, and Facebook, attracting some of the best talent in data science. Average salaries for a Lead Data Scientist hover at just about $100,000 — or three times the national salary average. Plus, it has a hopping nightlife and functions as a base camp for the European exploration of your dreams.
5. Boston, Massachusetts
Boston may have a higher cost of living, but you get history, art, and some of the brightest minds in the world in return with MIT and Harvard right around the corner. Average total compensation is about $141,000, plenty to handle the higher than average cost of living. Current job postings are just under 2500 on Indeed, giving you plenty of space to get your foot in the door.
6. London, UK
London is the worldwide hub for artificial intelligence and FinTech with a 1 billion pound deal between the UK government and over 50 tech businesses around the world vested in AI. It’s home to the Alan Turing Institute and has hosted the Deep Learning Summit, the Strata Data Conference, and ODSC’s European Conference. The cost of living is high considering the average salary (just over $57,000), but there are just over 2000 current job postings and plenty of opportunities to network your way to some of the most significant projects happening in data science.
7. Singapore, Singapore
Singapore city currently ranks as the number six smart city in the world with the government’s strong commitment to tech and substantial investment in city infrastructure. It boasts autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, and ASEAN-leading government spending for IT. The average salary is about $52,000 per year, but you’ve got the opportunity to live and work in a leading Southeast Asian country.
8. Toronto, Canada
Toronto is a cultured city with friendly neighborhoods among the skyscrapers. Data science in FinTech and banking is huge here, so if numbers within numbers is your game, this is where you should start. The Royal Bank of Canada opened a banking innovation lab here, working on artificial intelligence and big data. The average salary is around U.S. $59,000 per year, and job listings searches returned nearly 4000 listings.
9. Paris, France
Paris has a lower cost of living than some other European hubs and has been handpicked by prestigious companies like IBM and Amazon which have innovation labs, while Facebook, Samsung, and Deepmind plan to open AI specific labs. It’s historic, full of art and fantastic food, and features an average salary of about $55,350, which could rise as substantial commitments to IT spending from the French government boost interest.
10. Palo Alto, California
Ok, we can’t get by without naming Silicon Valley. It’s one of the most expensive cities in the country, but also one of the wealthiest, with plenty of nightlife and a young, innovative population. Get a job here, and you’re at the forefront of tech and data science. Salaries top out at close to $150,000 per year, and job search returned nearly 4000 results.
11. Kyiv, Ukraine
Kyiv is an up and coming city with large data science meetups, and a renewed interest in being the premier city for AI research and innovation. It’s home to seven large-scale data science providers working with companies and organizations worldwide, but the cost of living gets you the best of European living without the price tag of London or Paris.
12. Bengaluru, India
India is poised to be the biggest economy in the world soon, thanks to its favored position for outsourcing. That outsourcing extends to tech with the city of Bengaluru hosting a wide range of foreign tech firms. Since these are emerging markets and industries, you have the chance to position yourself as a leader both in data science and implementation. Plus, a four thousand year history, fascinating food, and a cheap cost of living allows you to live the good life.
13. Berlin, Germany
Berlin is Europe’s hottest spot for startups thanks to a robust economy and a reputation for begin the most stable (and reasonable) EU partner. Experts estimate there’s a startup founded every 20 minutes and the cost of living is a full 43% lower than London, once again getting you that dream European life without the massive price tag.
Up and Coming
Honorable Mention: Stockholm, Sweden
Stockholm gets a special mention for its potential as data science job postings begin to rise. Currently, there’s a little over 100 job postings, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a city to watch out for. Sweden is home to major players such as Spotify, Ikea, and Volvo, a varied tech scene with a lot of potential. Plus, the country has managed to avoid some of the economic troubles currently plaguing other EU partners while investing and hosting more Unicorn startups per capita than anywhere outside Silicon Valley.
How We Chose The Cities
Salary averages were taken from Glassdoor searches for “data scientist + salary + city” while the cost of living averages come from realestate.usnews.com. Job availability was gathered from indeed.com using “data scientist + city” searches.
Editor’s note: ODSC hosts conferences around the world including Boston, San Francisco, London, Kyiv, and Bengaluru. Attending one of these conferences is a great way to become more familiar with the local data science scene and see if it’s worth looking for a job there!
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