North Carolina’s two largest cities are also the top two “Tech Towns” in the nation, according to a new study, establishing the state as a “major stand-out” in the U.S. for information technology professionals to live in.

Charlotte snagged first place and Raleigh, the state’s capitol, took second on the Tech Town Index 2018. The index, compiled by the Computing Technology Industry Association Inc., or CompTIA, ranked 20 metropolitan areas across the country with populations above 250,000 people.

Using job posting data from August 2017 to July 2018, it accounted for each area’s cost of living, number of jobs available for information tech workers and projected job growth over both the next year and the next five years.

Durham-Chapel Hill took the 15th spot as one region, reinforcing the Research Triangle Park’s status as a blossoming innovation hub for the tech industry. The rest of the index included some classic heavy-hitters, such as Silicon Valley, Seattle and Boston, along with a few lesser-discussed names, such as Huntsville, Alabama.

“There’s a reason the metro area consisting of Charlotte, Concord and Gastonia has posted double-digit population growth over the last decade: A booming local economy and expanding job market have made it an attractive choice for relocation, and tech is making a major contribution to those trend,” stated the index report, which can be found here.

Charlotte, the second most-populated city in the Southeastern U.S., benefitted most notably from its positive future outlook, ranking third in both one-year and five-year job growth projections.

The report references Charlotte as having the second-most banking resources among cities within the country, with jobs available for information tech professionals at places like like Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Deloitte, IBM and Accenture.