New York City Overtakes San Francisco as Top US Tech Talent Market

New York City has surpassed the San Francisco Bay Area as the largest U.S. tech talent market for the first time in the 13-year history of the CBRE Scoring Tech Talent report.

New York recorded 394,300 tech jobs, edging out the Bay Area's 375,730. The shift marks a significant milestone, as San Francisco had held the top spot every year since the report began.

The divergence is driven by opposing labor trends. The Bay Area saw its tech talent workforce shrink by 6 percent between 2022 and 2025, largely due to layoffs across the tech industry. New York's tech workforce grew by more than 8 percent during the same period, fueled by the financial services sector's integration of AI and general tech hiring.

AI is a primary driver of change in both markets. Nationally, AI-related roles grew by 45 percent over the past year, with both New York and San Francisco adding more than 20,000 AI-specific jobs since mid-2025. Despite losing the lead in total headcount, San Francisco retains a higher concentration of AI-specific talent. As of June 2026, 57 percent of all tech job postings in the Bay Area were AI-related, compared to a 31 percent national average.

San Francisco also maintains its dominance in CBRE's comprehensive Tech Talent Scorecard, which weighs 13 metrics including talent pipeline, concentration, and R&D investment. The Bay Area scored 81.98 on that index, significantly higher than New York's 70.38.

Experts say the shift reflects a period of specialization rather than a total decline for Silicon Valley. Traditional software engineering roles are dispersing to lower-cost markets and financial centers, while the Bay Area continues to function as the central hub for high-level AI research.