Software engineering is one of the fastest growing careers in the country — and according to Forage, small cities in Washington are some of the best places to begin careers in the industry.

Seattle has grown tremendously in the past few years as a hub for tech and business, but with layoffs and work-from-home trends, it’s the Seattle suburbs that may now be the best place to start working in software engineering.

Based on criteria like hourly wages, employment levels, price levels, housing costs, broadband availability, job growth, unemployment rates, poverty rates and arts/entertainment options, the tech startup ranked the Seattle suburb of Bellevue ranked No. 3, overall, when it comes to the best cities to start a software engineering job, trailing only Santa Clara, California and Palm Bay, Florida.

The average hourly wage for a software developer is $74.85 in Bellevue, as well as in nearby Renton, which ranked No. 5 overall. Employment for software developers is also 3.8% higher than the national average in both cities. Bellevue’s ranking above Renton, however, is due to the city’s poverty rate of 7.4% — lower than 89% of cities analyzed. The average salary in Bellevue is also higher than in Renton, meaning that while both cities are fairly expensive, Bellevue residents spend a smaller percentage of their paycheck on housing.

Kent, Washington also cracked Forage’s top 10 areas, coming in at No. 9.