New York City has surpassed the San Francisco Bay Area as the largest tech talent market by headcount in the U.S., according to CBRE’s 13th annual Scoring Tech Talent report. New York’s 394,300 tech talent jobs surpassed San Francisco’s 375,730 — a milestone that marks the first time New York has claimed the top position in the history of CBRE’s analysis.
The shift reflects two forces working in opposite directions: layoffs of non-AI tech workers in the Bay Area, and strong AI and finance-driven hiring in New York. “The story there is that there’s been cuts in the Bay Area, so the tech industry has contracted the size of the tech talent workforce, and the finance sector [in New York] has hired a lot of tech talent and a lot of AI workers,” Colin Yasukochi, who serves as executive director of CBRE’s Tech Insights Center in San Francisco, told CNBC.
Despite New York’s lead in overall tech headcount, San Francisco retains its position at the top of CBRE’s indexed rankings, which weight 13 metrics including tech talent concentration, talent pipeline, and research and development investment. San Francisco scored 81.98 in that index, compared with New York Metro’s 70.38. The top six ranked markets — San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, New York Metro, Austin, and Washington, D.C. — held steady from last year.
AI hiring is reshaping both markets. The ranks of U.S. and Canadian tech workers skilled in <a href="https://myappsplus.com/iask-ai-launches-new-education-based-hub-to-help-students-learn-with-artificial-intelligence/" title="iAsk AI Launches New Education-Based Hub to Help Students Learn with Artificial Intelligence“>artificial intelligence grew 45% in the past year, with San Francisco and New York each adding more than 20,000 AI jobs since mid-2025. As of June 2026, there were 751,000 AI-related workers across the two countries. That share has climbed sharply — from 11% in 2022 to nearly one-third of all U.S. tech-talent job postings today. San Francisco leads in AI specifically, with 98,699 AI workers, compared with New York Metro’s 67,949.
The surge in AI employment is also driving office leasing. In San Francisco, AI companies were responsible for 58% of all office leasing activity during the first six months of this year and have driven about 10 million square feet of deals since 2023. AI leasing is also concentrated in Manhattan, Boston, and Seattle.
The growth comes against a backdrop of broader tech-sector upheaval. Artificial intelligence was cited as the top reason for layoffs across all industries for three consecutive months through May, even as technology simultaneously led all sectors in new job postings.
“Growth of AI jobs in the U.S. far outpaced the broader tech-talent category, which expanded by 1.8% last year even as the tech industry cut some non-AI jobs,” Yasukochi said in a statement.
