Overview
- The CBRE report released Friday shows New York’s metro had 394,300 tech workers in 2025 versus the Bay Area’s 375,730, the first time in the study’s 13‑year run that New York led on raw headcount.
- Between 2022 and 2025 the Bay Area’s tech workforce fell about 6 percent while New York’s grew roughly 8–8.4 percent as large tech layoffs hit Silicon Valley and finance, real estate and other New York industries absorbed many tech roles.
- CBRE’s 13‑metric Tech Talent Scorecard still ranks the Bay Area first for talent quality, wages, graduates and AI concentration, reflecting that a larger share of Bay Area tech workers remain employed directly by tech firms.
- AI roles are reshaping hiring and office markets: CBRE reports AI jobs rose about 45 percent year‑over‑year with each city adding more than 20,000 AI positions since mid‑2025, and that surge is driving major in‑person leases such as Anthropic’s roughly 465,630‑square‑foot deal and roughly 800,000 square feet of AI demand in Manhattan in Q2 2026.
- CBRE’s head counts run through 2025 so some 2026 layoffs and hires may be missing from the totals, meaning future updates to hiring, large AI leases and revised data will determine whether New York’s lead is durable and how workers and office markets are affected.