The skyline tells the story. For over a decade, the gleaming towers of San Francisco’s SoMa district stood as the undisputed capital of the American tech industry. But a new report from CBRE delivers a seismic shift in that narrative. It’s official: the New York metropolitan area now employs more tech workers than the San Francisco Bay Area. The numbers are stark. New York’s tech workforce hit 394,300 in 2025, an 8.4% surge since 2022 that added over 30,000 jobs. Meanwhile, San Francisco’s tech employment contracted by 6%, falling to 375,730. This isn’t just a quarterly blip. It’s the first time in the 13-year history of CBRE’s influential Tech Talent report that the Big Apple has come out on top.
What’s behind this power shift? It’s a tale of two economies, one diversified and one deeply concentrated. Colin Yasukochi, executive director of CBRE’s Tech Insights Center, laid it out plainly. “What really pushed New York past the San Francisco Bay Area has been the job reductions that we’ve seen [in San Francisco], with a lot of the announced layoffs and the fact that New York has continued to grow,” he told Commercial Observer. The data reveals a critical structural difference. In San Francisco, a staggering 61% of tech talent works directly within the tech industry itself. This creates a potent ecosystem but also a profound vulnerability when the sector stumbles, as it did broadly starting in 2022. In New York, only 34% of tech workers are in pure-tech companies. A robust 21% are embedded in the finance, insurance, and real estate (FIRE) sectors. This dispersion provided a shock absorber. While Silicon Valley bled jobs, Wall Street and its supporting industries kept hiring engineers, data scientists, and developers.
Key points illustrating the differences:
- New York’s tech workforce: 394,300
- San Francisco’s tech workforce: 375,730
- Job growth in New York: 8.4%
- Job reduction in San Francisco: 6%
- Percentage of tech talent in SF within tech industry: 61%
- Percentage of tech talent in NY within tech sector: 34%
Don’t mistake this for San Francisco’s demise. The city still reigns supreme in concentration and quality, ranked first in North America across CBRE’s 13 metrics. Tech jobs make up over 10% of total employment there compared to just 4.2% in New York. The Bay Area’s talent pool remains the deepest and most specialized. But its dominance is now facing a sustained challenge from the East Coast’s scale and diversification. Yasukochi points to another key advantage for New York: a massive university infrastructure feeding a pipeline of graduates and, crucially, lower average wages for roles like software engineers. For a cost-conscious CEO, that’s a powerful argument when considering where to plant a flag.
Office Market Demand:
| Company | Leased Space (sq ft) | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Anthropic | 465,630 | 330 Hudson Street |
| Airbnb | $82 million | 281 Park Avenue South |
| Tennr | 124,733 | 345 Hudson Street |
| 410,000+ | Nearby |
Yet, to declare a total victory for New York would be to miss the larger, more complex picture. The AI revolution is fueling both coasts. CBRE data shows that nationwide AI leasing activity remains most concentrated in San Francisco. Since 2023, AI-related companies have accounted for 30% of all office demand in the City by the Bay and a staggering half of all lease deals in the first half of 2026. The story isn’t one of replacement but of expansion. The tech industry, particularly its AI vanguard, is becoming less a regional monoculture and more a foundational element of multiple major economies.
So, what does this mean for the future? The CBRE report signals a maturation. New York’s ascent reflects the normalization of technology as a core business function not a standalone industry. It’s the digitization of finance, the algorithmization of real estate, and the data-fication of media and advertising. San Francisco’s relative dip reflects the hangover from a period of hyper-growth and a necessary correction. But with AI driving the next cycle, both cities are positioned as primary engines. The competition is no longer just for the title of “Tech Capital.” It’s for leadership in the new, AI-integrated economy. The race is on, and for the first time in a long time, it feels truly neck-and-neck. The horizon is no longer dominated by a single skyline.
