New York overtakes Bay Area tech talent

CBRE's 13th annual Scoring Tech Talent report, released on August 18, 2026, found that the United States — New York metropolitan area has surpassed the United States — San Francisco as the largest tech talent market by headcount in the U.S. New York's tech talent workforce reached 394,300 in 2025, while the Bay Area's was 375,730. This is the first time New York has led in the 13-year history of the report. The shift is driven by layoffs of non-AI tech workers in the Bay Area and strong AI and finance-driven hiring in New York. The Bay Area's tech talent workforce dropped 6% from 2022 to 2025, while New York's grew 8.4%. Despite losing the headcount lead, the Bay Area remains the top-ranked market in CBRE's overall scorecard, which weighs factors like talent concentration and R&D investment. AI-related roles now account for nearly one-third of all U.S. tech-talent job listings, up from 11% in 2022. AI employment across the U.S. and Canada grew 45% year-over-year to 751,000 workers as of mid-2026. San Francisco still leads in AI-specific jobs with 98,699, compared to New York's 67,949. AI is also driving office leasing, with AI companies accounting for 58% of San Francisco's leasing activity in the first half of 2026. The report highlights the broader trend of tech talent spreading into other industries and cities as companies like Meta, Block, and Amazon cut workers to focus on AI investments.