New York unseats San Francisco as top market for tech talent: CBRE

Key Points:

• New York has surpassed the San Francisco Bay Area as the U.S. city with the most tech workers, largely driven by growth in artificial intelligence (AI) roles, according to a CBRE report analyzing 75 metropolitan markets in the U.S. and Canada.
• AI tech jobs grew by 45% over the past year in the U.S. and Canada, with both New York and San Francisco adding over 20,000 AI-specific positions since mid-2025, totaling 751,000 AI-related workers across the two countries.
• While New York leads in overall tech talent, San Francisco remains the leader specifically in AI jobs, and AI-related office leasing is rising sharply in key markets like San Francisco, Manhattan, Boston, and Seattle.
• AI companies accounted for 58% of office leasing in San Francisco in the first half of the year and have driven a recovery in office demand due to AI's more office-centric, collaborative culture compared to broader tech sectors.
• Despite concerns that AI might reduce workforce sizes, the technology is currently creating and transforming jobs rather than eliminating them, particularly boosting tech hiring in finance and other sectors.