Between 2010 and 2019, the tech sector grew by 47% and added more than 1.2 million jobs—nearly triple the growth of the economy as a whole. Not even COVID-19 could stymie this growth; although the sector’s expansion slowed during the initial pandemic-related lockdowns, it managed net positive growth through almost all of the crisis. … Numerous smaller quality-of-life meccas and college towns also seemed to add tech jobs sharply during the initial year of the pandemic. Among the former, high-amenity or vacation towns such as Santa Barbara, Calif., Barnstable, Mass., Gulfport-Biloxi, Miss., Pensacola, Fla., and Salisbury, Md. all saw their tech employment surge by 6% or more. Likewise, attractive and convenient college towns such as Boulder, Colo., Lincoln, Neb., Tallahassee, Fla., Charlottesville, Va., and Ithaca, N.Y. all grew their tech jobs by more than 3% during the first year of the pandemic.