The tech job market continues its steady growth as companiesturn to automation and efficiency to gain a competitive edge,according to analysis from Dice.com, an online job portal for thetech and engineering fields.

Dice used data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to job growthby state for the first six months of 2014.

Notably absent from the top 10 is California, presumably becauseSilicon Valley and the rest of the Bay Area is saturated with jobsalready. California leads the nation by employing 250,000 in thetechnology sector.

Another explanation? “We think what's happening is every companyis becoming a tech company,” Dice spokesperson Carrie Gray tells Forbes. “Companies across the U.S. arerelying more on technology, and in turn, smaller cities are nowthese unexpected tech hubs.”

Dice president Shravan Goli pointed out to eWeek a few areaswhere tech jobs are fast growing, which include big data, mobilityand security. ”When you think about mobile, it's not justbuilding applications that's driving demand for tech pros,” hesaid. “Companies want to create a visually clean and engagingmobile experience too.”

Click through the following pages to see the top 10 states fortechnology job growth.

10. Missouri

Tech job growth, January to June 2014: 2.10%

After leading the nation for the past two years, Missouri's techjob growth has slowed.

9. Michigan

Tech job growth: 2.72%

8. New Jersey

Tech job growth: 2.84%

7. Massachusetts

Tech job growth: 2.91%

6. New York

Tech job growth: 3.08%

5. Washington

Tech job growth: 3.53

Much of Washington's job growth can be attributed to Seattle,which has become a center for cloud computing after Oracle recentlyannounced that it would base its cloud technology center there.Amazon's web services are also based in Seattle and Microsoft,Google and Century Link also have cloud operations in the city.

4. Oregon

Tech job growth: 3.57%

3. North Carolina

Tech job growth: 3.80%

2. Florida

Tech job growth: 5.64%

In the first half of 2014, the Sunshine state created nearly asmany jobs in tech (4,100) as the state did in all of 2013 (4,500).

1. Texas

Tech job growth: 5.99%

The Lone Star state not only has the highest percentage growth,but also the most new positions added in the first half of theyear. This state has created so many news jobs that it ranks ashaving the second largest workforce of technology professionalsbehind California, according to data from the Bureau of LaborStatistics.

Texas added 8,100 positions this year to employ 143,000 techworkers, which marks a 6% increase.