SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Silicon Valley, New York and Washington D.C. are still the nation's top centers of high-tech employment, according to a report published Tuesday.
But the heaviest concentrations of tech workers can also be found in such cities as Boulder, Co., Huntsville, Ala., and Durham, NC., according to a report released Tuesday by the American Electronics Association. 

The association's "Cybercities" report, the first since 2000, also noted that 51 of the nation's 60 metropolitan areas added high-tech jobs during the year 2006, which the group described as a sign of the industry's steady growth.
"These are the types of jobs every city wants," Christopher Hansen, the association's president and CEO said in a statement.
Metro New York was the nation's top tech employer with 316,500 of roughly 5.8 million U.S. tech workers based on 2006 figures, the report said. Washington D.C. was second with 295,800 and the San Jose/Silicon Valley area with 225,300.

Combined with San Francisco and Oakland, the Bay Area, long known as the world's tech Mecca and home to such pioneers as Intel Corp.  (INTC: 22.36, -0.01, 0.0%) , Google Inc. (GOOG:
 545.21, -1.22, -0.2%) and Oracle Corp. (ORCL:
 22.08, -0.02, -0.1%) , topped the Big Apple with more than 386,000 workers.

 In terms of concentration, San Jose/Silicon Valley was on top with roughly 285.9 of every 1,000 private sector workers. Boulder is No. 2 with 230.5, followed by Huntsville with 188.5 and Durham with 155.9.
The Riverside-San Bernardino area in southern California posted the biggest growth in tech employment from 2005-2006 with an 11.5% increase, followed by Durham with 8.4% and Salt Lake City with 7.2%.

Tech workers in San Jose/Silicon Valley were the highest paid with an average pay of $144,800, followed by San Francisco with 118,500 and Austin, Tex. with $100,500.
San Jose/Silicon Valley also was the dominant area for technology manufacturing, the report said. Metro New York was prominent in the tech service sectors with many of its workers in telecommunications, Internet services, R&D and testing labs and computer training services.
Washington DC was the leader in computer systems design and similar services and in engineering services, the report said.
The report was based on 2006 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. End of Story
Benjamin Pimentel is a MarketWatch reporter based in San Francisco.

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