Seattle ranked first as the top technology metropolitan area in the USA in a new Richard Florida’s new Technology Index. The index measures high tech companies based on the Milken Institute’s Tech Pole Index, patents per capital, and average annual patent growth. The work was completed as part of the recently published Rise of the Creative Class, Revisited.
Seattle, as home to Microsoft and Amazon others landed the top spot. Portland, OR, ranks fourth in the index. The metro regions surrounding Washington, DC, and New York City failed to land in the top twenty.
| Metro | Technology Index Score | |
| 1. | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | .996 |
| 2. | San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | .983 |
| 3. | San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | .976 |
| 4. | Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, OR | .956 |
| 5. | Austin-Round Rock, TX | .955 |
| 6. | Raleigh-Cary, NC | .952 |
| 7. | San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos | .945 |
| 8. | Durham, NC | .940 |
| 9. | Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH | .933 |
| 10. | Boulder, CO | .920 |
| 11. | Burlington-South Burlington, VT | .918 |
| 12. | Tucson, AZ | .912 |
| 13. | Provo-Orem, UT | .909 |
| 14. | Corvallis, OR | .898 |
| 15. | Huntsville, AL | .894 |
| 16. | Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown, NY | .893 |
| 17. | Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI | .891 |
| 17. | Madison, WI | .891 |
| 19. | Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA | .886 |
| 20. | Manchester-Nashua, NH | .885 |
The author, Richard Florida, is Co-Founder and Editor at Large at The Atlantic Cities. He’s also a Senior Editor at The Atlantic and Director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. He is a frequent speaker to communities, business and professional organizations, and founder of the Creative Class Group.
Source: Richard Florida, The Atlantic Cities, June 28, 2012.