CBRE's 2026 report puts New York's tech workforce ahead of the Bay Area's for the first time in 13 years — but read the two engines: the Bay Area shrank into second place while New York's finance sector bought up AI talent.

New York now has more tech workers than the San Francisco Bay Area — 394,300 to 375,730 — the first time it has led in the 13 years CBRE has run its tech-talent survey, CNBC's Diana Olick reported Friday↗ (external source, opens in a new tab), citing the firm's 2026 report↗ (external source, opens in a new tab). The gap is about 18,600 jobs across a 75-market study. As a horse race, it's close. As a story about the Bay Area, the number worth reading isn't New York's.

The two markets arrived here on opposite engines. New York's total climbed because its finance industry went shopping for tech and AI staff; the Bay Area's fell because its own tech companies kept cutting. Colin Yasukochi, who runs CBRE's Tech Insights Center in San Francisco, attributed the flip to that split — a contracting Bay Area workforce set against a New York finance sector hiring, in his words, "a lot of AI workers." By CBRE's count, the region shed roughly 23,900 tech jobs from 2022 to 2025, a 6% decline, while New York added 30,640.

So the crown changed hands — but not because New York out-built the Bay Area on tech. It out-hired a region that was busy shedding headcount. This is a demotion earned at home.

The claim that the Bay Area "still wins on AI" holds up better. The region stayed No. 1 on CBRE's overall scorecard, which weighs concentration and salaries rather than raw totals, with New York fourth. San Francisco also still leads on AI specifically: AI firms accounted for 58% of the city's office leasing in the first half of 2026, per CBRE. What's unconfirmed is durability — whether that leasing reflects hiring that sticks or a land grab that thins when the next cut cycle files its paperwork. The next scorecard is the test.