Washington, DC Metro Area #2 For Techies

When it comes to the overall economic outlook for the DC metro area, including Loudoun County, job growth definitely plays a big part. It’s also a large factor in property values and the overall real estate market. With tech jobs being a fairly big chunk of the local job market, a report from Dice.com’s site earlier this month is definitely good news. Based on posted job openings, sorted by zip code, the Washington, DC metro area is number 2 on the list of the top 10 metropolitan areas for tech jobs.

1. New York/New Jersey – 11,044 postings

2. Washington, D.C. – 7,971 postings

3. Silicon Valley – 6,755 postings

4. Los Angeles – 4,546 postings

5. Chicago – 4,241 postings

6. Boston – 4,167 postings

7. Philadelphia – 3,156 postings

8. Dallas – 3,084 postings

9. Atlanta – 2,987 postings

10. Seattle – 2,309 postings

Overall, Dice.com reports a 119% jump in tech job postings over the past two years. Says Dale Welch at Winter, Wyman: "Competition for tech talent is intense, and it doesn’t look like it will lessen anytime soon." For talented techies battered by years of layoffs and cutbacks, it’s about time.

Loudoun County Property Demographics

A common question of those relocating to Loudoun County, Virginia is what types of properties are most commonly available and what the local demographics are. Well, according to a May 22nd press release issued by the U.S. Census Bureau, among counties with a population of 65,000 or more, Loudoun County is number four when it comes to the percentage of properties with 4 or more bedrooms. Virginia is number seven overall in the same category.

Top 5 counties in U.S. with properties with 4 or more bedrooms

1. Davis County, Utah – 49.4%
2. Fayette County, Georgia – 45.5%
3. Forsyth County, Georgia – 48.5%
4. Loudoun County, Virginia – 44.6%
5. Stafford County, Virginia – 43.8%

Virginia (and neighboring Maryland) made the top of the list when it comes to states with the highest percentage of properties with 4 or more bedrooms. Utah was number one with 39.2%, Maryland was number two with 28% and Virginia was near the top with 26.5%.

In regards to other parts of Northern Virgina and the metro DC area:

• Washington, DC had the highest percentage of apartments with 10 or more units (42.4%)
• Among cities, about half of all housing units in Alexandria, Virginia were in apartment buildings with 10 or more units, almost as high a percentage as New York City (54.2%)
• Washington, DC has the highest percentage of townhomes (26.4%) followed by Maryland at number two with 20.1% and Virginia number five with 10.3%

Although the press release is geared towards the topic of properties getting bigger and having more bedrooms as time goes on, it helps to give consumers a better idea of the most common type and size of property available in Loudoun County as well as the demographic of the typical household (most singles and first time home buyers don’t buy a 3000 sq ft, 4 bedroom single family home).

Please note that these statistics are for 2005, but you can’t ask for much better (or faster) from the U.S. Census Bureau.