Melland explains that while the tech startup market is still healthy, the financial services sector has continued to cut back, depressing salaries.

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Melland says Pittsburgh has had to work to keep graduates from top schools like Carnegie Mellon from decamping to other cities, so companies there have hiked pay.

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"The labor market is improving, but employment is still not growing as quickly as in previous recoveries, " said Scot Melland, CEO of Dice Holdings, which released a survey Wednesday on private-sector hiring.

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Scot Melland, CEO of Dice Holdings, says the dip in Silicon Valley salaries is probably a result of companies there hiring more people straight out of college, which skews the average salary downward.

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