Top 15 U.S. Cities With Deepening Tech Talent Pools

14. Detroit

Increase In Labor Pool, 2011-2016: 40.7 percent

Tech Jobs, 2016: 78,510

Who said Detroit's best days are in the past? The former automobile capital of the world saw a 9.2-percent jump in its millennial population from 2011 to 2016, and technology professionals saw an average annual salary jump of nearly 10 percent, bigger than that of non-tech occupations. Its costs of living and doing business are also below the national average, based on data CBRE gathered from Moody's Analytics.

"It's a lot easier to hire now," says Brent Yax, CEO of Awecomm Technologies, located about 20 miles north in Troy, Mich. "Historically it's been very difficult to find talent," but over the last five years, as the private sector and governments have invested in startups and training programs, the market has turned, he added.