This report maps the geographic distribution of IT candidates across four regions: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and the rest of the Netherlands. Amsterdam dominates every market except Embedded and PHP. Utrecht has a strikingly high share of Data professionals: 24% of the Utrecht IT market is Data, against 11% nationally. Rotterdam is relatively strong in Cloud and Testing.
Distribution by city
Amsterdam holds the largest share of IT professionals in nearly every market. On average 42% of candidates sit in the Amsterdam region, 18% in Utrecht, 14% in Rotterdam and 26% in the rest of the Netherlands.
Utrecht deviates from the national pattern. Data is the second largest market there (24% of the local IT population, against 11% nationally). This ties in with the concentration of data-driven organisations in the region, including large financial institutions and government bodies.
Market composition by region
Cloud is the largest market in every region, but the share varies. In Amsterdam Cloud is 31% of the IT market, in Rotterdam 36%, in Utrecht 28% and in the rest of the Netherlands 29%.
Architecture is proportionally largest in Amsterdam (9%) and smallest in Rotterdam (5%). Java is spread evenly across all regions (around 7%).
Embedded and PHP concentrate outside the Randstad. In the rest of the Netherlands Embedded is 4% of the market, against 1.5% in Amsterdam.
Implications for recruitment
The geographic concentration has direct consequences for recruitment strategy. An employer looking for Data professionals in Utrecht has a relatively large local supply. An employer looking for Embedded engineers in Amsterdam faces a smaller local pool and has to search wider.
The figures also show that remote work has changed the geography only to a limited degree. The concentration in Amsterdam has eased slightly compared with pre-pandemic figures, but the pattern is intact.
Sources
- Pearson & Partners candidate data, August 2026