It\u2019s official. New York is employing more tech workers than the San Francisco Bay area.<\/p>\n
According to an annual CBRE<\/a> report<\/a> on North American tech talent, the New York metropolitan area\u2019s tech workforce reached 394,300 in 2025. The stat marks an 8.4 percent increase from 2022 that added 30,640 jobs. Meanwhile, San Francisco\u2019s tech employment fell by 6 percent over the same period, totaling 375,730 jobs in 2025.<\/p>\n SEE ALSO: Data Center Development Has Domestic Materials Manufacturers Working Overtime<\/a><\/p>\n This is the first time in the report\u2019s 13-year history that the Big Apple has come out ahead. The city\u2019s diversified job market helped set it apart, Colin Yasukochi, executive director of CBRE\u2019s tech insights center, told Commercial Observer.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhat really pushed New York past the San Francisco Bay Area has been the job reductions that we\u2019ve seen [in San Francisco], with a lot of the announced layoffs, and the fact that New York has continued to grow,\u201d Yasukochi said.\u00a0<\/p>\n San Francisco remains in North America\u2019s top spot for its pool of tech talent, however, ranked across 13 metrics. The report, which analyzed the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and LinkedIn data, found that tech jobs make up more than 10 percent of total employment in San Francisco, compared to just 4.2 percent in New York.\u00a0<\/p>\n But a whopping 61 percent of San Francisco\u2019s tech talent works directly in the tech industry, according to CBRE\u2019s report, leaving its general labor market vulnerable. In New York City, just 34 percent of its tech workers work within the industry, while 21 percent work in tech roles in finance, insurance and real estate industries (otherwise known as FIRE).<\/p>\n \u201c[That] has given New York resilience from the tech downturn that broadly started in 2022, in terms of employment,\u201d Yasukochi said. \u201cBut, obviously, with the artificial intelligence industry coming into play, that\u2019s turned around quite substantially in the last year.\u201d<\/p>\n Yasukochi added that New York also benefits from a massive university infrastructure and lower wages than San Francisco, on average, for roles like software engineers \u2014 a boon to employers eyeing East Coast headquarters.<\/p>\n News of New York City\u2019s relative emergence in the tech world comes as its major players gobble up Manhattan\u2019s office space.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe region combines a robust pipeline of graduates with a growing concentration of AI talent and sustained job creation, making it one of North America\u2019s most attractive locations for technology companies,\u201d Lauren Crowley Corrinet, vice chair at CBRE, said in a statement.<\/p>\n Manhattan\u2019s tech business has been punching above its weight class in the office market this year. AI giant Anthropic<\/a> turned tech heads eastward in April when Commercial Observer reported<\/a> that it was securing a 465,630-square-foot deal to lease all of AEW Capital Management<\/a>\u2019s 330 Hudson Street. Plus, short-term rental platform Airbnb<\/a> struck an $82 million deal<\/a>\u00a0 with Aby Rosen\u2019s RFR<\/a> in mid-June to buy 281 Park Avenue South for its new East Coast office hub.<\/p>\n The city saw 800,000 square feet of office demand from AI businesses in the second quarter of 2026<\/a>, according to Colliers data, surpassing the total yearly demand of 2025. The most recent quarter clinched a 124,733-square-foot deal<\/a> at 345 Hudson Street from health care tech platform Tennr<\/a>, and Google<\/a> renewed 410,556 square feet<\/a> at 315 Hudson Street.<\/p>\n AI leasing in Manhattan\u2019s office market has already surpassed 1.8 million square feet this year, well above the roughly 1.4 million square feet of activity in 2025.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n But San Francisco\u2019s tech-powered office market<\/a> is no slouch, either. AI leasing activity nationwide remains most concentrated in the City by the Bay, according to CBRE data<\/a>, where<\/p>\n AI-related companies have accounted for 30 percent of office demand since 2023, and half of all lease deals in the first half of 2026.<\/p>\n