Where the Top Tech Markets Are

San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, Washington D.C. and New York are the top tech markets this year, in a trend that’s nearly unchanged from 2021.

Toronto, which saw the most tech talent growth between 2016 and 2021, moved up one spot in this year’s rankings by CBRE to the #3 position. Meanwhile, markets that moved up the most in the firm’s rankings were Dallas/Ft. Worth, Philadelphia, South Florida and Milwaukee, as well as Vancouver, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Orlando, Edmonton and Houston.  Austin also moved up to the #6 spot.

Tech markets in the US that grew the fastest on a percentage basis were the Inland Empire, Seattle, and Nashville. Markets that lost the most ground were Madison, Raleigh-Durham and Quebec City.

“Both large and small markets have their advantages: while large markets generally have a deeper pool of talent, small markets typically offer business and cost-of-living savings,” CBRE analysts note in the report.

The CBRE research also found that Toronto, Vancouver and Seattle “created substantially more jobs than tech degree graduates,” while New York Metro, Boston and Washington, D.C. produced more graduates than jobs.  Interestingly, certain cities had high concentrations of tech talent in non-tech industries, including finance, insurance and real estate in Hartford (28%), Charlotte (25%), Columbus (24%) and Jacksonville (23%) and government in Sacramento (29%), Baltimore (23%) and Washington, D.C. (20%). 

An analysis earlier this year from Moody’s found that shifting migration patterns are driving tech firms to look to secondary markets outside the typical tech clusters.

“Generally, a well-managed company in a great location understands the tug-of-war between efficiency gains from remaining in an established cluster and the increasing cost of business to stay there,” Moody’s economists Thomas LaSalvia and David Caputo write. “Concentrations of labor, intermediate input and information sharing are classic examples of efficiency gains when in an established market. The high tenant demand tends to increase both rent levels and wages particularly in areas with limited buildable land. If costs overshadow benefits, firms will look elsewhere and likely land in cheaper spots, but with fewer benefits, particularly human capital or skill.”