City ProfileBoston · Massachusetts · US

Boston

Deep tech and life sciences make Boston structurally different from other top US markets. Proximity to MIT, Harvard, and a dense university cluster sustains a research-to-commercialization pipeline that shows up clearly in the hiring mix.

Postings · May 2026−55%3-mo momentum
7
postings
this month
12-Mo Trend · 3-mo rollingJun '25 → May '26
11.6667 low3-mo avg · 2025.6667 high
Rank · US
#9of 30 US cities
Remote-friendly · This month
100%+27 pts vs US
Share of US postings
1.5%7 of 518
3-Mo momentum
Falling−55% vs prior 3 mo
§ 00Hiring Volume

A consistent top-six US market with lower variance than coastal peers.

Annual totals for the last five years — every year shown is complete except 2026, hatched because it is still in progress.

Full yearPartial yearAll-time peak
All-time postings
10,242since 2011 · 182 months
+15% YoY2025 vs 2024
862
'22
350
'23
211
'24
242
'25
83
'26
All-time total
10,242182 months
↑ Best year
20161162
↓ Worst full year
2024211
Latest full year
2025+15% YoY
§ 01Compensation

Pays 8% under Atlanta for senior eng — and 5% over Austin.

Median bands from the 24 Boston postings that disclosed USD pay across 2023–Present.

Senior eng · median · 2023–Present
USD167K
−8%vs Atlanta+5%vs Austin
Range by seniority · 2023–Present
Junior— n=2
Senior$142k – $191k n=10
Staff+— n=7

Bar = p25 to p75 · tick on Senior = median. Junior & Staff+ shown hatched below the 10-sample floor.

Senior eng median · US peer cities · 2023–Present
Where Boston sits in the US distribution
CityMedianvs Boston
01
Atlanta
$183k+9.1%
02
Washington DC
$180k+7.6%
03
Chicago
$169k+0.9%
04
Bostonyou are here
$167k—
05
Austin
$160k−4.3%
06
Denver
$160k−4.3%

2023–Present disclosed pay only

§ 02Work Model

5 points more remote-friendly than the US baseline.

Trailing-12-month split, plus the yearly remote / hybrid / onsite mix all the way back.

Remote-friendly · Trailing 12 months
76%
+5 ptsvs US · 71%
Remote
8%
Hybrid
68%
Onsite-only
24%
Work-model mix · by year
Remote share is climbing back in '26
RemoteHybridOnsite
'11
70% rem.
'12
50% rem.
'13
51% rem.
'14
52% rem.
'15
32% rem.
'16
30% rem.
'17
23% rem.
'18
28% rem.
'19
41% rem.
'20
65% rem.
'21
85% rem.
'22
93% rem.
'23
87% rem.
'24
71% rem.
'25
75% rem.
'26
78% rem.
Trailing 12 months · Boston vs US
Boston76% remote-friendly
US average71% remote-friendly
§ 03City Signature

Deep tech and life sciences — not a consumer market.

Keywords counted across 239 Boston hiring posts. Posts frequently list multiple skills.

#01
Top SkillPython
148mentions↑ 6%
Mentions · Last 12 Months
JUN '2562% of postingsMAY '26
Leaderboardlast 12 mo
01Python+6%148
02TypeScript+39%133
03React−2%92
04UX/UI+119%77
05Machine Learning+405%72
06Google Cloud+26%65
07Amazon Web Services (AWS)+643%57
08Go−9%50
09Docker+108%48
10Rust+13%47
Movers · 12-month change
What’s moving
Trending↗
  • 01MongoDB+812%
  • 02Amazon Web Services (AWS)+643%
  • 03Machine Learning+405%
  • 04RAG+219%
Cooling↘
  • 01GitLab−54%
  • 02JavaScript−50%
  • 03Django−39%
  • 04Git−31%

88% of jobs include at least one technical skill · share of postings mentioning the skill (12 months through May 2026)

Role mix · Boston vs USShare of postings by role category, past 3 years
BostonUS baseline
Data Ml
over-indexed
22%
12%
+10 pts1.8×
Design
match
2%
3%
−1 pts0.6×
Engineering
match
61%
69%
−8 pts0.9×
Executive
match
3%
2%
+2 pts2.0×
Finance Accounting
match
0%
0%
−0 pts0.0×
Healthcare
match
0%
0%
0 pts0.0×
Legal Compliance
match
0%
0%
−0 pts0.0×
Marketing
match
2%
3%
−1 pts0.6×
Operations
match
1%
1%
−0 pts0.6×
Other
match
2%
3%
−1 pts0.6×
Product
match
6%
4%
+2 pts1.5×
Sales
match
2%
3%
−1 pts0.7×