New York Metro Overtakes the Bay Area With 394,300 Tech Workers
New York Metro ended 2025 with 394,300 tech workers against the Bay Area's 375,730, the first lead in 13 years of CBRE tracking, driven by financial-services AI hiring and startups taking Midtown South space while the Bay Area shed 23,900 workers. The crossover is headcount only — San Francisco still ranks first on CBRE's 13-metric scorecard, and 57% of Bay Area tech postings were AI roles in June 2026 against 31% nationally, so the frontier is concentrating in the Bay even as volume disperses.
Source: implicator.ai ↗
The Bay Area is likely to remain the central location for the AI industry and for innovation. But as we've seen during past cycles, as it tends to grow, that spreads out to all the key markets.
Colin Yasukochi, CBRE Tech Insights Center
Why this matters
- → Tech workforce gravitational shift: NY now leads on headcount after 13 years of Bay Area dominance.
- → AI hiring concentrates in Bay despite dispersal; 57% of SF postings vs 31% nationally.
- → Financial services and startups reshaping metros; raw talent counts diverge from innovation leadership.
The Big Shift