Toronto Reclaims #4 Spot in CBRE’s Latest North American Tech Talent Ranking

Toronto added 95,900 tech talent jobs since 2018 – 44% growth, with only Calgary (+78.1%), Ottawa (+51.7%) and Waterloo Region (+45.5%) exceeding Toronto out of all North American cities.

After losing ground last year, Toronto has reclaimed the #4 spot in CBRE’s latest Scoring Tech Talent report ranking of the top 50 tech markets, supplanting Washington, D.C. Tech hiring has slowed across North America despite strong growth in artificial-intelligence (AI) specialties, according to the new report.

The San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle and New York Metro remained the top three tech talent markets, while Austin joined Toronto in moving up one spot this year to round out the top five. Tech talent is a group of highly skilled workers in more than 20 tech-oriented occupations – such as software engineers and systems and data managers – across all industries. Overall, the U.S. and Canada added 231,400 tech talent jobs last year.

Toronto created an eye-popping 95,900 tech talent jobs between 2018 and 2023, representing 44% growth in that five-year period and the most job gains of any market. This is particularly astounding considering that over the same period 30% of markets, or 15 of 50, lost tech talent jobs. Only Calgary (+78.1%), Ottawa (+51.7%) and Waterloo Region (+45.5%) posted higher percentages of tech talent job growth since 2018 out of the 50 North American tech talent markets.

Ottawa, with more tech workers employed in government than in the actual tech industry, moved up one position to the #10 spot in the ranking. Vancouver dropped to #11 (from #8), Montreal fell to #15 (from #12), and Waterloo Region remained at #18. Calgary rose to #20 (from #21 last year), Quebec City fell to #40 (from #35) and Edmonton fell to #49 (from #39).

“The tech sector has come off the boil but remains a key driver of our economy and office demand. Four Canadian cities produced the highest percentage increase of tech talent jobs, which points to the underlying strength of the tech sector in Canada,” says CBRE Canada Chairman Paul Morassutti. “Our tech talent workforce is well-educated and Canadian cities boast some of the highest concentrations of young people. This will ensure Canada remains at the forefront of technology-driven growth.”

AI Fuels Tech Job Growth

The tech industry employed 46% of total AI-specialty talent in Canada, and 48% in the U.S., the largest sector in each country. By market, the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle and New York claim the largest clusters of AI talent, accounting for 44% of the total 285,235 AI tech jobs in the U.S. In Canada, Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal are the leading AI markets, accounting for 60% of the country’s total 41,374 AI tech jobs.

“Increased demand for specialized skill sets in artificial intelligence has fueled tech talent job growth across all sectors. We anticipate more tech hiring to take place this year and into 2025 as companies further develop and adopt this technology,” said Colin Yasukochi, executive director of CBRE’s Tech Insights Center.

Toronto, Calgary and the San Francisco Bay Area created substantially more jobs than tech graduates last year. And eighteen of the top 50 tech markets saw the total number of residents in their 30s increase by more than 10% since 2017, including Waterloo (+20.2%), Vancouver (+18.4%), Toronto (+16.4%), Ottawa (+15.1%) and Edmonton (+10.1%). Meanwhile, Toronto, Austin, Salt Lake City and Waterloo Region had the highest growth of residents in their 20s.

CBRE’s annual Scoring Tech Talent report covers 75 North American markets, ranks the top 50 tech markets in the U.S. and Canada and outlines tech talent labour market trends amid economic shifts and increased remote hiring. CBRE also ranks the Next 25 emerging tech markets on a narrower set of criteria. London, ON, is No. 4 in this ranking, with 88.5% tech job growth in the past 5 years. Halifax (No. 5), Winnipeg (No. 13) once again make appearances in this list.

To download the full report, click here.

Additionally, CBRE’s latest tech talent analyzer provides an interactive, in-depth comparison of tech talent in different markets. For more information, click here.