The Death Of Tech Hubs: Why Innovation No Longer Has A ZIP Code

Forbes

29-05-2025

Nacho De Marco is the CEO of BairesDev, an award-winning nearshore software outsourcing company, and the cofounder of VC firm BDev Ventures.
For a long time, breaking into the tech industry meant trying out your luck in a few specific places, such as Silicon Valley, New York or Boston, but that's no longer the case. Remote work has rewritten the rules, and the next wave of tech growth isn't limited to the usual coastal hubs. We see it happening everywhere. So, are tech hubs as we once knew them dying?
According to a BairesDev analysis of graduate, employment, population and cost of living data from 2022 to 2024, there are approximately 10.8 job listings for every new computer science (CS) graduate in the U.S. In states like New Hampshire and Utah, where CS grads per capita are among the highest (14.7 and 13.8 per 10,000 people), the local talent is ready to meet demand. A few years ago, those grads would've had to move to large coastal cities to find work. Now, they can build careers from home, ditch the sky-high rent and contribute to their local economies. The playing field is leveling out, and remote work is the main enabler.
This global shift is transforming how talent and opportunity intersect. Recruiters are no longer confined to hiring in the same usual saturated areas, benefiting emerging tech hubs. As a nearshore company, we've seen this phenomenon extend across the entire continent. Revelio Labs reported that there was a 70% increase in South Americans working remotely for North American companies between 2020 and 2023. This is strong evidence that qualified talent isn't restricted to geography. BairesDev is a good example, hiring historically 40% of our tech talent from non-metropolitan areas across LATAM. From Guadalajara in Mexico to Tandil in Argentina, we've seen tech talent hotspots emerge and amplify their reach.
Let's focus for a moment on how this shift is impacting talent in the U.S. As I mentioned, the idea that professional success in tech was only attainable in a few cities is dissolving. Look at cities with high remote job ratios, like Utah or Colorado. They're now on the map for tech-driven economic growth. The money earned by remote workers circulates locally, creating demand for housing, services and new businesses.
The data backs this up. Although California and New York still produce the most CS graduates, our analysis shows that smaller states are making some of the most significant contributions per capita. For example, the Georgia Institute of Technology produces more CS grads than New York University and the University of Pennsylvania combined, and Utah's Western Governors University and Utah Valley University rank among the top six in the nation.
But the real proof lies in how this shift is demonstrated across the U.S. Take Boise, Idaho. Once overlooked, it's now attracting major billionaire investments from companies like Micron and Meta. With a growing startup scene and local talent from Boise State, it's become a real alternative to the coasts. Or look at Raleigh, North Carolina. Built on the foundation of the Research Triangle, it's now a hotspot for AI, the cloud and cybersecurity. With a strong mix of talent and affordability, some predict it could soon be the No. 2 tech hub on the East Coast.
As players in the nearshoring field, Boise and Raleigh's stories feel familiar. We witness similar developments unfold in Latin America, where smaller cities, once overlooked by the global tech market, are positioning themselves as innovation centers thanks to remote work and nearshoring demand.
For employers, this talent evolution opens up a lot of opportunities. Companies are acknowledging that location isn't a limitation but an opportunity to access a broader and better-skilled workforce. Just consider the fast growth of tech talent in Latin America alone. According to our internal data, BairesDev has seen a 285% increase in remote applicants from LATAM in the last five years, offering U.S. companies the chance to tap into a highly qualified workforce. This mirrors what's happening domestically. Just as Boise and Raleigh are gaining ground in the U.S., cities like Medellín, Guadalajara and Córdoba in LATAM are becoming anchors for remote development teams.
This shift isn't just changing where tech jobs are. It's reshaping how companies strategize about talent and hiring. They're embracing fully distributed teams, hiring the best tech talent regardless of geography. Some may lean into hybrid models, setting up smaller regional offices or co-working hubs. Others are investing in technology to make asynchronous work seamless, ensuring productivity isn't tied to a specific location or time zone.
Nearshoring helped pioneer this new way of working. Collaborating with teams throughout Latin America gave U.S. companies early experience in managing distributed talent, enabling alignment, adaptability and performance well before remote work became widespread.
We have to shake off the idea that tech hubs revolve around geography. They now revolve around connectivity and capability. Whether you're a developer in Raleigh or a UX designer in Rosario, you can deliver meaningful results, grow your career and make an impact without leaving the place where you live best. As someone working closely with U.S. companies and LATAM professionals, I see firsthand how this new landscape benefits everyone. Businesses are building agile and skilled distributed teams, and communities are growing through reinvested talent. The boundaries that once defined opportunity in tech are dissolving.
Although we won't see the current tech epicenters losing relevance anytime soon, we will see a geographically diverse skilled workforce nurturing not only tech innovation worldwide but their own communities at the same time. Employers are increasingly recognizing that location isn't a limitation but an opportunity to access a broader, more diverse talent pool.
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