New York has overtaken the San Francisco Bay Area in total tech talent for the first time in 13 years of CBRE’s analysis, as AI hiring expands across industries. The shift is also changing demand for office space, with AI companies accounting for a growing share of leasing activity in major U.S. tech hubs.
New York Takes The Lead In Tech Talent
According to CBRE, New York had 394,300 tech talent jobs as of June, compared with 375,730 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The report covers 75 metropolitan markets across the U.S. and Canada and marks the first time New York has ranked first.
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Colin Yasukochi, executive director of CBRE’s Tech Insights Center in San Francisco, attributed the shift to two trends. San Francisco has seen layoffs and a contraction in its tech workforce, while New York’s financial sector has increased hiring of AI and technology workers.
AI Hiring Is Expanding
AI-related tech roles grew 45% across the U.S. and Canada over the past year. San Francisco and New York each added more than 20,000 AI-specific jobs since mid-2025, while the combined AI workforce reached 751,000 by June.
AI roles now account for nearly one-third of all tech job listings in the U.S. The growth reflects increasing demand for AI talent across industries, including financial services.
AI Jobs Remain Concentrated In Major Hubs
New York leads in total tech talent, but San Francisco remains the largest U.S. market for AI jobs. Four markets, San Francisco, New York, Seattle and Washington, account for 37% of all U.S. AI employment, according to CBRE.
Canada’s AI workforce is even more concentrated. Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver account for about 60% of the country’s AI employment.
AI Hiring Is Driving Office Demand
The growth in AI employment is also showing up in office leasing. AI companies accounted for 58% of San Francisco office leasing in the first half of this year and about 30% of leasing activity since 2023, totaling roughly 10 million square feet, according to CBRE.
AI companies are also maintaining a stronger office presence than many technology companies did after the pandemic. Yasukochi said AI startups often rely on frequent in-person collaboration.
“It’s more of the sort of startup innovation culture that we’ve seen, where people are in the office a minimum of four, but usually like five or six days a week,”
Yasukochi said.
CBRE also identified Manhattan, Boston and Seattle as major centers of AI-related office leasing.
The data suggests that AI hiring is supporting office demand in several major markets, even as other parts of the commercial real estate sector continue to face slower growth and more selective tenant demand.
