New York’s tenants may be experiencing a brief reprieve from an otherwise typically, endlessly skyrocketing cost of housing. But still, the rent in New York City, as former gubernatorial candidate Jimmy McMillan put it, is too damn high.
This is not just a problem exclusive to the world's financial capital; businesses based in economic centers around the world are starting to question the logic of bringing employees to areas where capital is thrown into black holes of housing costs. As one investor decamping from San Francisco to cheaper pastures told the New York Times, money invested in the Bay Area is “basically paying landlords, Twilio, and Amazon Web Services.”
But in finance, an industry traditionally moored to Lower Manhattan, spendthrifts realized that the “New York Or Nowhere” mantra maybe shouldn’t extend further than the face of a (bad and overpriced) tote bag. Of the biggest 15 American banks (excluding SunTrust and U.S. Bancorp), here are the 10 cities that haven’t ranked in AT Kearney’s annual Global Cities index for the past two years, but are where the banks have posted the most job openings.
| City | Jobs Available |
|---|---|
| Charlotte | 1099 |
| Bengaluru | 513 |
| Richmond | 512 |
| McLean | 375 |
| Tampa | 335 |
| Pittsburgh | 334 |
| Jersey City | 329 |
| Irving | 308 |
| Plano | 302 |
| Chennai | 289 |
Charlotte ranks well and above all other cities on non-traditional city list, as well as second in the overall list behind New York. Its location as the headquarters of Bank of America ($BAC) and a major center for Wells Fargo ($WFC) after its acquisition of Wachovia makes it the largest banking center of the South.
Pittsburgh is home to PNC ($PNC), Capital One ($COF) lives in McLean, Virginia, which is a two-hour drive on the I-95 from Richmond. No surprises for either city, of course.
But for the rest of the top ten, banks seem to be building entire offsite teams in cheaper, more localized ecosystems. Plano had the highest number of openings with “Developer” or “Engineer” at 51 percent, reflecting its growing role as a site of programmers. 33 percent of Tampa’s openings are for analysts.
| Title | Jobs Available |
|---|---|
| Senior Software Engineer | 66 |
| Software Engineer | 28 |
| Client Service Representative | 24 |
| Master Software Engineer | 21 |
| Java Developer | 16 |
| Sr. Specialist Developer | 16 |
| Analyst I - Apps Prog | 15 |
| Production Services Lead | 14 |
| Business Control Manager | 13 |
| Senior Financial Analyst | 12 |
| Sr. Software Engineer | 11 |
| Specialist Developer | 10 |
| Senior Administrative Assistant (Admin Assistant III) | 10 |
| Risk Analysis Manager | 10 |
| Senior Data Engineer | 9 |
| Data Engineer | 9 |
Furthermore, Morgan Stanley ($MS) is hiring for positions based in Bengaluru, along with a few jobs in non-major U.S. cities like South Jordan, Utah and Gilbert, Arizona, as we saw earlier this week.
Not every bank is setting up shop in these non-traditional financial hubs. Out of the largest banks in America, only 8 are responsible for hiring in the ten of our most popular non-global cities.
| Ticker Symbol | City | Jobs Available |
|---|---|---|
| TD Ameritrade | Tampa | 1 |
| TD Ameritrade | Jersey City | 22 |
| Bank of America | Charlotte | 1089 |
| Bank of America | Richmond | 54 |
| Bank of America | Jersey City | 126 |
| Bank of America | Pittsburgh | 16 |
| Bank of America | McLean | 8 |
| Bank of America | Tampa | 35 |
| Bank of America | Plano | 155 |
| Bank of America | Bengaluru | 1 |
| Bank of America | Irving | 8 |
| Bank of America | Chennai | 43 |
| Bank of New York Mellon | Tampa | 2 |
| Bank of New York Mellon | Jersey City | 145 |
| Bank of New York Mellon | Pittsburgh | 317 |
| Bank of New York Mellon | Irving | 1 |
| Bank of New York Mellon | Chennai | 49 |
| Citigroup | Charlotte | 2 |
| Citigroup | Jersey City | 33 |
| Citigroup | Irving | 297 |
| Citigroup | Chennai | 197 |
| Citigroup | Tampa | 290 |
| Citigroup | Bengaluru | 45 |
| Capital One | Bengaluru | 3 |
| Capital One | Richmond | 457 |
| Capital One | McLean | 367 |
| Capital One | Irving | 2 |
| Capital One | Charlotte | 1 |
| Capital One | Tampa | 5 |
| Capital One | Plano | 147 |
| Capital One | Jersey City | 3 |
| Goldman Sachs | Bengaluru | 212 |
| Morgan Stanley | Charlotte | 4 |
| Morgan Stanley | Tampa | 2 |
| Morgan Stanley | Pittsburgh | 1 |
| Morgan Stanley | Bengaluru | 101 |
| Morgan Stanley | Richmond | 1 |
| State Street | Charlotte | 3 |
| State Street | Bengaluru | 151 |
Of course, all of these banks have roots planted in New York City and other global financial hubs such as London. But by saving some rent, these industry leaders can afford to buy their new developers all the Amazon Web Services they need, to say the least.
