AI Jobs Surge to Account for Nearly One-Third of U.S. Tech Listings, CBRE Report Shows
New York has officially unseated the San Francisco Bay Area as the largest market for tech talent in the U.S., boasting 394,300 specialized workers compared to 375,730 in the West Coast hub, according to a comprehensive annual report released by real estate and investment firm CBRE. Driven by rapid acceleration in artificial intelligence and deep integration within the financial sector, New York’s tech workforce expanded by over 8% between 2022 and 2025.
Shifting Capital and Workforce Valuations in Major Metros
While the Bay Area remains the incubator for foundational artificial intelligence models, its total talent pool shrank by 6% over the same three-year window, pressured by mass headcount reductions at firms like Meta, Block, and Amazon. Conversely, New York absorbed specialized talent across financial services, healthcare, and digital media, where firms deployed early enterprise adoption models for machine learning.
According to Colin Yasukochi, executive director of CBRE’s Tech Insights Center, the Bay Area keeps its crown as the central location for core innovation.
The Artificial Intelligence Catalyst Across Commercial Sectors
Artificial intelligence roles now account for nearly one-third of all tech-talent job listings nationwide, expanding at a 45% year-over-year clip across the United States and Canada. This surge added over 20,000 net-new roles individually in both New York and San Francisco. In the Bay Area, this demand concentrated heavily on physical office utilization, where AI-focused enterprises drove 58% of total office leasing during the first half of the year, accounting for 10 million square feet of absorption since 2023.
Lauren Crowley Corrinet, vice chairman of CBRE’s Consulting Group in New York, notes that the sheer scale of the New York market supports both early-stage venture acceleration and massive enterprise scaling. Financial institutions headquartered in Manhattan deployed early automation tools, creating an immediate absorption path for displaced engineers and data scientists.
Regional Growth Metrics and National Rankings
While New York leads in aggregate headcount, scorecards measuring cost efficiency, average salaries, and regional tech graduate output place the Bay Area higher on composite indices, with New York ranking fourth overall. Regional hubs also captured distinct waves of talent migration. Sacramento expanded its tech workforce by more than 8% to reach 42,970 workers. Meanwhile, the combined Los Angeles and Orange County market registered 227,350 tech workers, marking a marginal increase of under 1% compared to 2022 benchmarks.
Macroeconomic uncertainty continues to shape worker sentiment. Pew Research Center data released alongside the commercial trends indicates that roughly 71% of U.S. adults believe artificial intelligence will decrease total employment opportunities over the next two decades, up from 64%. Despite worker apprehension regarding automation, corporate recruiters continue filling specialized vacancies for data scientists and hardware engineers.
As commercial leasing dynamics evolve through the remainder of the fiscal year, market participants must balance aggressive AI infrastructure deployment with sustainable headcount growth.