AI-powered layoffs are shaking up the once-perfect tech job market. Over 100,000 layoffs To date this 12 months alone. The burning query for actual property buyers is the place high-net-worth expertise goes — assuming they depart established hubs like Silicon Valley or Seattle — and whether or not it makes financial sense to observe them.
“New method of working”
Plumbers, electricians, and roofers stands out as the most secure jobs on the town. Extra like a whale than a plankton, synthetic intelligence is devouring computer-based jobs, and paradoxically tech jobs are among the many first.
Based on a current report by a worldwide outplacement and govt teaching agency: Challenger, Gray & ChristmasAI is cited by corporations as a serious purpose for job cuts.
“In a nutshell, AI is revolutionizing the way in which corporations function, and we’re reinventing Coinbase to guide on this new period,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, who just lately laid off 700 employees to make method for AI, mentioned in an article. Long social media post about X. “This can be a new method of working, and we have to leverage AI in each facet of our work.”
Different tech giants equivalent to Amazon, LinkedIn, Meta, Oracle, and Cloudflare have additionally introduced job cuts, in accordance with forbes.
The place laid-off tech employees are in search of their subsequent alternative
realtor.com‘s cross-market search visitors reveals that tech employees, from high-net-worth executives with profitable retirement packages to lower-level workers, are turning to different tech cities, with affordability a key issue driving search. Nevertheless, for these with deep roots and powerful employment potential, there may be an choice to remain put and search for your present area.
Ben Mize, president of Intelligent Actual Property, advised Realtor.com:
“Most displaced expertise employees are prone to stay in the identical area for even longer durations of time. Workers will stay in essentially the most equitable areas, together with skilled and social networks, spouses, kids, colleges, and trade sources. Areas equivalent to Silicon Valley, Seattle, and New York provide one of the best alternatives to seek out one other high-paying expertise job.”
Individuals who wish to scale back the price of dwelling are “probably to decide on reasonably priced cities which can be near expertise, with comparatively low-cost housing, good colleges, good airports, and a great, small tech trade that permits them to work in tech with out feeling remoted,” Mizes added.
Based on Realtor.com knowledge, Salt Lake Metropolis, Denver, and Raleigh are well-liked cities for high-paying tech employees.
“Salt Lake Metropolis was the highest vacation spot for buyers from Menlo Park within the first quarter of 2026,” defined Realtor.com economist Jiayi Xu. Xu famous that amongst consumers in Menlo Park, one among Silicon Valley’s most tech-dense tech hubs, the share of consumers centered on particular markets in tech-friendly Utah rose to just about 3.6% in early 2026 from 0.6% a 12 months earlier.
Equally, practically 70% of on-line housing searches from Seattle look to different states, up from 65% a 12 months in the past, with Portland, Oregon, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and Phoenix being the preferred locations.
Why Tier 2 Tech Cities Do not Work for Many Buyers
For employees and buyers in search of affordability. money movementmany second-tier cities will not be sensible relocation/funding choices, particularly if distant or hybrid work is feasible.
Utah’s “Silicon Slope” is attracting expertise expertise to corporations like Adobe, Qualtrics and Oracle, whereas workplaces for corporations like Workday and eBay are additionally rising, a neighborhood brokerage just lately reported. red sign It factors out that housing costs are rising on account of demand for top expertise.
Though considerably extra reasonably priced than Silicon Valley or San Francisco, the common dwelling value in Salt Lake Metropolis is, in accordance with Zillow. $580,000the common lease is $1,600that is clearly not a good relationship for actual property buyers.however Variables exist in broader metropolitan areas.
The identical is basically true for different secondary expertise hotspots equivalent to Denver and Raleigh/Durham. north carolina.
These are nice long-term buy-and-hold choices for deep-pocketed buyers who can purchase with money and keep away from present mortgage charges. thanks. However for leveraged buyers who depend on loans, this quantity does not apply.
A tech metropolis the place money movement nonetheless works
For expertise professionals and buyers in search of extra reasonably priced touchdown spots with decrease rents and better wages; Cities in the South and Midwest attracts certified workers for prime jobs.
Huntsville, Alabama: Aerospace and Protection, Starter Dwelling Costs
Huntsville is a hub for aerospace and protection. NASA’s Marshall Flight Center, Redstone Arsenal, Boeing, Lockheed Martinand quite a few contractors and expertise corporations. Named a prime metropolis for expertise expertise by business actual property brokerage CBRE, There are many jobs available for qualified peoplesalaries for mid-to-senior stage engineering positions are as follows: $120,000 and $170,000.
common home value $290,000and of common The lease is About $1,400.
Columbus, OH: Meta, Path Robotics, Intel.
“Columbus is rising quickly,” mentioned Dennis Demayer, a former Google Cloud technical director who plans to determine Autonomous Manufacturing, an AI-powered manufacturing firm, close to Columbus. of new york times. “It is wild. All the pieces is beneath development. It feels just like the Bay Space was 13 or 14 years in the past.”
Columbus and central Ohio normally are quick turning into expertise hotspots, with Silicon Valley giants and startups opening manufacturing crops and workplaces. In reality, manufacturing employment progress elevated by 4.4% between 2021 and 2024. A brand new airport terminal is being constructed to welcome enterprise vacationers, and new modular housing is being constructed. Underneath development At a quick tempo, instances I’ll report it.
The common dwelling costs in Columbus are: $251,000in accordance with Zillow, the common lease is $1,500/monthmaking it very reasonably priced for each renters and buyers. At current, money movement is flat, however there’s a risk that money movement will improve and change into optimistic if rates of interest fall.
San Antonio, Texas: protection, expertise, and cybersecurity, plus Toyota, Grupo Lala, and Siemens
of Affordable Alternative to AustinSan Antonio has a booming job market in protection expertise and cybersecurity, led by the College of Texas at San Antonio and Texas A&M. common value of San Antonio’s home $251,000the common lease is $1,610.
Pittsburgh, PA: Google, Amazon, Duolingo, Aurora Innovation.
Carnegie Mellon College’s (CMU) nationally acknowledged pc science program is a serious driver of innovation within the metropolis. Nvidia, the world’s most valuable companyjust lately partnered with CMU and the College of Pittsburgh to launch knowledgeable neighborhood centered on robotics, autonomy, and AI, additional strengthening Metal Metropolis’s technical credentials.
For actual property buyers, Pittsburgh stays very reasonably priced. The common home value right here is approx. $240,000,rental common round it $1,500/month.
Different reasonably priced tech cities the place buyers can break even at present rates of interest embody:
remaining ideas
The truth that the price of dwelling disaster and the AI revolution are taking place on the similar time is creating a novel dynamic of mass layoffs in an trade the place solely the very highest paid can stay within the epicenter.
Nevertheless, expertise not restricted To Silicon Valley, San Francisco, and Seattle. It impacts nearly each trade. So it is sensible that corporations would arrange store in America’s most reasonably priced areas, the Midwest and South, to maximise income.
The excellent news for buyers is that these jobs include good pay. However given the momentary nature of employment nowadays, one firm says fewer than one in 5 tech employees, particularly Gen Z within the software program trade, are job hoppers, bouncing from firm to firm. recent reports. this This implies they’re much less probably to purchase and extra prone to lease.
When selecting a tech-friendly metropolis to put money into, make sure not solely to have a powerful expertise base; supported Different steady employment sources, equivalent to training, healthcare, and authorities jobs, are probably to offer a powerful tenant base even when tech employees transfer to a different metropolis.
