California has the most job opportunities for entry-level positions as well as for remote workers. But you might have better luck in Virginia.
Image: Poker.org
California is the best place for anyone who wants to work in artificial intelligence (AI). The state has the most job postings overall as well as the most options for remote workers and entry-level job seekers. Poker.org analyzed more than 8,000 US job postings on Indeed.com to find the states with the most AI job opportunities.
The top states for artificial intelligence jobs based on this analysis are:
- California: 1,515 jobs; top cities are San Francisco and Santa Clara
- Virginia: 843 jobs; top city is Arlington
- Washington: 592 jobs; top city is Seattle
- Massachusetts: 573 jobs, top city is Boston
- New York: 562 jobs; top city is New York
- Texas, 447 jobs; top city is Austin
The analysis categorized the postings into three salary ranges: $50,000, $100,000, and $150,000.
Even though California has the most openings, it may be easier to get an AI job in Virginia. The Poker.org blog post about the research stated that, “…per capita, the chances of getting hired for any AI programming jobs or other AI openings in Virginia nearly double those in California, despite the Golden State’s massive job count and job growth. Further, Virginia only sees about ¼ of California’s ample search traffic for the jobs, suggesting that the competition in the Old Dominion may be relatively slight.”
The competition is stiff in New York state as well with double the Google searches for AI positions, fewer jobs, and a big population.
Massachusetts is gaining on Washington state as a good place for tech workers with GE, Amazon, Fuze, Red Hat, and VMware recently opening up offices in Boston.
The analysts also used Google Trends data to determine the states where people are searching for AI jobs. People were most likely to search for AI jobs in these states:
- California
- Texas
- New York
- Florida
- Illinois
California has the most opportunities for remote work in AI with almost 200 listings. These states round out the top 5 list of states with the most remote jobs, although each one had fewer than 100 AI job postings with a remote work option: New York, Texas, Massachusetts, and Virginia.
For people looking for entry-level jobs, California is the place to be with 351 postings located in that state. Massachusetts (126), New York (113), Virginia (110), and Washington (84) round out the list.
The analysis found that states with the most AI jobs tend to have strong tech, healthcare, or government sectors. The other important elements are a concentration of tech and engineering schools, and government funding to support AI career projects.
The list of employers looking for AI workers is a familiar one:
- Amazon
- Apple
- Microsoft
- Deloitte
- IBM
- NVIDIA
- Intel
- Samsung
Poker.org analyzed Indeed job openings data in September 2020 for all 50 US states and compiled online search data for AI jobs in all 50 states to get a picture of the job search competition in each area. The researchers also used keyword research tools to find approximate search numbers for the key terms in every state.
