A tech tabby. Photo by pgkcat

According to Forbes, the Washington Metro region is second only to the other Washington (Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue) on the magazine’s rankings of the cities that are best for tech jobs:

Amid a surge in government spending, the capital area has enjoyed 20.6% growth in tech employment since 2001 and 20.8% growth in [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics-related] jobs. Over the past two years, employment in both categories expanded about 4%. The Washington area boasts the second-highest proportion of tech and STEM jobs among the cities we surveyed, at 2.9 and 2.2 times the national average, respectively. There is a broadness to the tech economy in the greater D.C. area; as the Valley has become dominated by trends in web fashion, the Washington tech complex include substantial employment in such fields as computer systems design, custom programming, and private-sector research and development.

So while we might not produce the next social media fad, we will design cool tech stuff that helps the government more effectively blow up enemies. Sweet.

San Diego took third, followed up by Salt Lake City; Baltimore; Jacksonville, FL; San Jose, CA; Columbus, OH; Raleigh, NC; and Nashville, TN.