Denver is the second-most appealing U.S. city to live in for software engineers, according to the latest analysis by Hired, a job network for tech companies and job seekers.

That’s second to Austin, Texas, where the cost of living is a bit lower but so are salaries. What makes Denver stand out? A focus on work-life balance, said Jessica Kirkpatrick, data scientist at Hired.

“Culture is also a large factor for many candidates here,” Kirkpatrick said. “Candidates want to be a part of a company where they believe strongly in the mission. Candidates in Denver are willing to prioritize a company and product they can really have an impact on, so we find that ownership is often more important than salary for them.”

Hired’s analysis took into account more than salaries. Because it works with companies and job seekers, Hired said it has insight into how companies recruit locally and out of the area, as well as the diversity in company sizes and types of jobs. Its data is based on actual job offers, according to Hired.

Most appealing cities for software engineers A higher salary isn’t everything. Standard of living is important too. Hired ranked the following cities as the top 10 tech hubs in the U.S. for standard of living (average salaries for software engineers are listed). 1. Austin, $110,000

2. Denver, $112,000

3. Seattle, $126,000

4. San Diego, $112,005

5. Los Angeles, $117,000

6. Chicago, $108,000

7. Boston, $116,000

8. Washington, D.C., $111,000

9. San Francisco Bay Area, $134,000

10. New York, $120,000 Source: 2017 State of Global Tech Salaries by Hired

In Denver, the average salary for software engineers declined 2.63 percent from the prior year to $112,000, which made it the fourth-lowest salary in the 10 regions Hired studied. Austin’s average was $110,000, up 0.96 percent from the prior year.

Austin got higher marks because companies “are willing to relocate the right talent, with more than 60 percent of job offers going to candidates living outside the Lone Star State,” according to the report. By comparison, San Francisco tech companies are willing to relocate talent about 30 percent of the time.

The San Francisco Bay Area had the highest average salary, at $134,000. But that translates poorly for software engineers thinking of moving from another city. For example, to live the same life in Denver on the region’s average salary, workers who move to San Francisco must earn $69,000 more.

“Overall, Denver seems to employ people who want the best of all worlds,” Kirkpatrick said.

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How your salary stacks up against a new Silicon Valley employee’s pay Hired isn’t the only job agency to hone in on Denver’s appeal as a tech hub. Mondo, another tech-job recruiter, released its 2017 Salary Outlook on Thursday. The report showed that tech salaries continued to climb for IT professionals. The company, however, was not able to break out Denver-region salaries from the national figure.

However, said Gianna Scorsone, Mondo’s senior vice president of marketing and sales operations, there isn’t much variance between Denver’s salaries and others across the nation. That’s because Denver has a growing tech market with more companies moving in all the time.

Mondo saw double-digit growth in 2016 in Denver from the prior year, and said contractor rates increased 25 percent.

“Two factors really contribute to this: The market is demanding more seniority and niche skill sets, and salaries are on the rise in the Denver market, catching up to those already highly established markets like San Francisco and NYC,” Scorsone said.

Nationwide, Mondo said that 20 technology jobs saw salaries above $185,000. Chief information officer and chief technology officer positions topped the list with salaries between $170,000 and $285,000. Data scientists earned between $130,000 and $210,000.

Salaries vary widely for many tech jobs. Android developers, for example, can expect a salary between $90,000 and $200,000.

Hired shared the following tips for software engineers looking for a new job:

People who are willing to relocate get higher salary offers. In Europe, Canada and Asia, employers offer non-local candidates 57 percent more money than local candidates.

Product managers had the highest average salary offers of all tech jobs, at $138,000, a 5.9 percent growth.

In Denver, tech companies on average offered local candidates a salary of $112,000, but offered out-of-the area candidates $117,000.

Learn more about tech salaries for the Denver area: