NEW YORK — New York has overtaken the San Francisco Bay Area as the largest technology talent market in the United States by total workforce, according to new research from commercial real estate firm CBRE.
The milestone represents a significant shift in the geography of America’s technology workforce as artificial intelligence, financial services and technology-driven businesses increasingly expand their presence in New York.
CBRE’s 2026 Scoring Tech Talent report found that the New York metropolitan area had approximately 394,300 technology workers, compared with 375,730 in the San Francisco Bay Area. CBRE said this is the first time New York has surpassed the Bay Area by total tech-talent headcount in the history of the firm’s annual analysis. (CBRE)
New York’s Technology Workforce Continues to Grow
The shift reflects growth in New York alongside contraction in the Bay Area.
Between 2022 and 2025, the New York metropolitan area’s tech workforce increased by more than 30,000 positions, or approximately 8.4%, while the Bay Area lost nearly 24,000 technology jobs during the same period, according to CBRE data reported this week. (Yahoo Finance)
CBRE defines “tech talent” broadly, encompassing highly skilled workers across more than 20 technology-oriented occupations, including software developers, hardware engineers and computer and information systems managers. Importantly, those employees are not limited to traditional technology companies; they work across industries ranging from financial services to healthcare and government. (CBRE)
That distinction helps explain New York’s growing position.
Unlike Silicon Valley, where technology employment has historically been heavily concentrated within technology companies, New York’s economy incorporates technology workers across finance, media, advertising, healthcare, professional services and other major industries.
Artificial Intelligence Becomes a Major Driver
Artificial intelligence is increasingly central to the competition for technology talent.
CBRE reported that AI-related employment across the United States and Canada grew 45% over the past year, with AI positions now representing nearly one-third of U.S. technology job listings. (CBRE)
The San Francisco Bay Area remains the largest center for AI employment, with 98,699 AI-related workers as of June 2026.
New York ranked second with 67,949 AI-related workers, ahead of Seattle, Washington, D.C., Toronto and other major technology centers. CBRE said both New York and the Bay Area added more than 20,000 AI-related jobs since mid-2025 through a combination of new positions and existing jobs incorporating AI skills. (CBRE)
The numbers illustrate how New York is increasingly becoming part of the center of the artificial intelligence economy rather than merely a customer of technology developed elsewhere.
San Francisco Still Leads in Overall Tech Ranking
New York’s larger workforce does not mean it has displaced Silicon Valley by every measure.
CBRE’s broader technology-market ranking evaluates cities using 13 factors, including the concentration of technology workers, talent pipelines and research-and-development investment.
On that overall index, the San Francisco Bay Area remains No. 1, followed by Seattle and Toronto. New York Metro ranked fourth, ahead of Austin and Washington, D.C. (CBRE)
The distinction is important.
New York now has the largest number of technology workers, while San Francisco continues to have a deeper concentration of technology talent and infrastructure relative to the overall size of its economy.
That leaves the two markets occupying different but increasingly competitive positions in America’s technology landscape.
Technology Is Becoming Part of New York’s Broader Identity
For decades, New York has been identified globally with Wall Street, media, advertising, fashion and entertainment.
Technology has increasingly become embedded within each of those industries.
Financial institutions employ large teams of software engineers, data scientists and artificial-intelligence specialists. Media businesses are investing in digital platforms and machine learning. Healthcare systems increasingly depend on advanced data infrastructure, while startups continue to establish operations throughout the metropolitan region.
That diversification may become one of New York’s biggest competitive advantages.
CBRE’s findings suggest the technology workforce is becoming less geographically dependent on traditional Silicon Valley employers as skilled workers find opportunities within a broader range of industries.
The result is not necessarily the replacement of one technology capital by another. Instead, it suggests that America’s technology economy is becoming more distributed—and that New York is emerging as one of its most important centers.
A Significant Moment for New York
For New York, surpassing the Bay Area in total technology employment represents more than a statistical milestone.
It demonstrates how significantly the city’s economic identity has changed.
New York remains the nation’s financial capital and one of its dominant centers for media and culture. It can now also claim the country’s largest technology talent workforce by headcount.
With artificial intelligence accelerating demand for specialized skills across industries, the competition among cities for engineers, developers, researchers and technology entrepreneurs is likely to intensify.
For the first time in CBRE’s annual analysis, however, New York sits at the top when measured by the sheer number of technology professionals who call the metropolitan area home.
And in the emerging AI economy, that workforce could become one of New York’s most important competitive advantages.
