Rapid Growth of AI-Related Jobs Strengthens Top North American Markets in CBRE’s Annual ‘Scoring Tech Talent’ Report

The ranks of U.S. and Canadian tech talent skilled in artificial intelligence grew by 45% in the past year and AI-related roles now account for nearly a third of U.S. tech-talent job listings, boosting office-leasing activity in top tech hubs, according to a new report from CBRE.

CBRE’s 13^th annual Scoring Tech Talent report analyzes 75 markets in the U.S. and Canada, ranks the top 50 markets and outlines tech labor market trends. This year’s report highlights the clustering of AI jobs; thirty-seven percent of AI jobs in the U.S. are found in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, Seattle and Washington, D.C.

In Canada, the concentration of AI jobs is even greater, with 60% of AI jobs based in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.

That AI expansion over the past year has bolstered top tech-talent markets. The San Francisco Bay Area and New York each added more than 20,000 AI jobs since mid-2025 through both new jobs and converting existing jobs to AI-skilled roles. Smaller tech-talent markets including Atlanta, Philadelphia, Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago and Washington, D.C., registered big percentage gains in AI jobs with less overall volume than San Francisco and New York. Overall, there were 751,000 AI-related workers in the U.S. and Canada as of June 2026.

The fastest growing roles in the AI field in the past year were data scientist, which added 29,000 new jobs, and computer and information system manager, which added 24,600.

Momentum for AI job growth is continuing. In June, AI jobs accounted for 31% of tech-talent job listings in the U.S., up from 11% in 2022. In the San Francisco Bay Area, the top North American market for AI talent, AI’s share of job postings rose to 57% from 20% in that timeframe.

CBRE expects the AI industry’s momentum to benefit office markets in key hubs. In San Francisco, AI companies have accounted for 30% of leasing activity, roughly 10 million sq. ft., since 2023. CBRE’s earlier Tech Gateway Office Markets report highlights that, apart from San Francisco, AI leasing activity was mostly concentrated in Manhattan (4.1 million sq. ft.), Boston (nearly 2.6 million) and Seattle (1.9 million).

“There’s no denying that AI is reshaping the tech industry and job growth in general,” said Colin Yasukochi, Executive Director of CBRE’s Tech Insights Center in San Francisco. “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. Markets adding AI jobs are further cementing their status as tech talent capitals.”

Top Markets for AI Employment as of June 2026

Market	AI Employment
San Francisco Bay Area	98,699
New York Metro	67,949
Seattle	41,591
Washington, D.C.	33,515
Toronto	33,419
Dallas-Fort Worth	29,840
Los Angeles/Orange County	28,600
Boston	27,494
Chicago	21,207
Atlanta	19,576

“Job growth tied to AI will influence most commercial real estate sectors, from offices to data centers to multifamily,” said John Morris, CBRE Group President of Advisory Leasing in the U.S. and Canada. “Inevitably, some jobs will be eliminated over time as AI takes on more routine tasks. But CBRE’s view is that AI will change job composition more than it will overall job count.”

Tech Talent Rankings

CBRE defines tech talent as highly skilled workers across more than 20 technology-oriented occupations in all industries, including computer and information systems managers, software developers and hardware engineers. CBRE ranks North American tech talent markets through a weighted analysis of 13 metrics such as tech talent concentration, tech talent pipeline and research and development investment.

The top six markets in CBRE’s 2026 indexed rankings held steady from last year: San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Toronto, New York Metro, Austin and Washington, D.C. Climbing two spots was Boston to No. 7. Vancouver rose one spot to No. 9. The biggest risers outside of the top 10 are Nashville, up six spots to No. 33; Montreal, up four spots to No. 11; Jacksonville, up four spots to No. 39; and Pittsburgh, up three spots to No. 28.

Tech Talent Top 10 by Index Score

Market	Tech Talent Score
San Francisco	81.98
Seattle	74.37
Toronto	72.73
New York Metro	70.38
Austin	64.26
Washington, D.C.	62.95
Boston	62.88
Dallas-Fort Worth	62.25
Vancouver	60.52
Waterloo Region	60.00

Outside of CBRE’s indexed rankings, the New York Metro took a top spot by another measure: New York City (394,300 tech talent jobs) supplanted the San Francisco Bay Area (375,730) this year as the largest tech talent market by headcount. That’s partly due to layoffs of non-AI tech talent in the Bay Area.

15% Salary Premium

Strong demand for AI software and hardware developers has resulted in higher wages in top tech talent markets. Tech industry wages are 15% higher than the U.S. average. The San Francisco Bay Area ($211,048), Seattle ($190,050) and Boston ($141,703) had the highest average annual tech talent wages in 2024, the latest year for which data is available. The least expensive were Edmonton ($70,185), Quebec City ($71,977) and Milwaukee ($83,547).

Real Estate Considerations

Total operating costs for tech companies increased in 2025 due to higher average wages. The total annual labor and real estate cost for a 500-person tech company occupying 60,000 sq. ft. of office space ranged from $36.1 million in Quebec City to $90.6 million in the San Francisco Bay Area.

A key measure of the cost of living favors the Sun Belt. The ratio of monthly apartment rent to tech talent wages is lowest in San Antonio (12.3%), Austin (12.7%) and Raleigh-Durham (13.5%). The highest ratios are in Manhattan (28.7%) and South Florida (27.4%).