Seattle & Northwest | July 17, 2019

Seattle, Bay Area Remain Two Hottest Markets for Tech Talent

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Tightening availability of tech talent in leading markets has spurred hiring momentum in smaller and upstart markets in the U.S. and Canada – such as Tucson, AZ, and Waterloo, ONT – as expanding tech employers seek additional labor pools, according to CBRE’s annual Scoring Tech Talent report.

The San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle remain the two highest-rated tech talent markets, respectively, and Toronto climbed one spot to No. 3 overall. Washington, D.C. and New York City – the top two regions for producing tech-degree graduates – round out the top five. Other Pacific Northwest cities among the top ranked for tech talent include Vancouver, BC, which jumped 12 spots to No. 12, and Portland, OR, which rose five spots to No. 16.

Overall, big markets continue to produce the largest volumes of jobs and tech degree graduates, with the Bay Area, Toronto and New York City adding the most tech jobs in the past five years. But, several years of low unemployment rates have dampened the momentum of many leading tech talent markets. Fifteen of the top 50 markets in CBRE’s report registered an accelerated, two-year pace of tech job growth, down from 23 last year.

Partly as a result, smaller markets outside of CBRE’s top 50 have absorbed some tech-labor demand. For the first time, CBRE’s report includes a list of fast-growing “opportunity markets,” led by Tucson with a 90% increase in tech jobs over five years, Hamilton, ONT’s 52% gain, Waterloo’s 40% gain and Las Vegas’ 35% gain.

2019 Rank	Market	Score	2019 Rank	Market	Score
1	San Francisco, CA	84.79	6	Austin, TX	62.10
2	Seattle, WA	73.82	7	Boston, MA	60.26
3	Toronto, ON	69.88	8	Denver, CO	59.43
4	Washington, DC	69.83	9	Atlanta, GA	58.08
5	New York, NY	65.12	10	Raleigh-Durham, NC	57.68

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About Dennis Kaiser

Dennis Kaiser is Vice President of Content and Public Relations for Connect Commercial Real Estate. Dennis is a communications leader with more than 30 years of experience including as a journalist and in corporate and agency marketing communications roles. He is responsible for Connect’s client content operations and is involved in a range of initiatives ranging from content strategy, message development, copywriting, media relations, social media and content marketing services. In his most recent corporate communications roles, he led a regional public relations effort across Southern California for CBRE, played a key marketing role on JLL’s national retail team, and was responsible for directing the global public relations effort at ValleyCrest, the nation’s largest commercial landscape services company. In addition to his vast commercial real estate experience, Dennis has worked on communications and launch strategies for a number of residential projects such as Disney’s Celebration in Florida, Ritter Ranch in Palmdale California (7,200 homes, 22,000 acres), WaterColor in Florida and PremierGarage in Phoenix. Dennis’s agency background included firms such as Idea Hall and Macy + Associates. He has earned an outstanding reputation with organization leaders as a trusted advisor, strategic program implementer, consensus builder and exceptional collaborator. Dennis has developed and managed national communications programs for Fortune 500 companies to start-ups, both public and private. He’s successfully worked with journalists across the globe representing clients involved in major-breaking news stories, product launches, media tours, and company news announcements. Dennis has been involved in a host of charitable and community organizations including the American Cancer Society, Easter Seals, BoyScouts, Chrysalis Foundation, Freedom For Life, HOLA, L.A.’s BEST, Reach Out and Read, Super Bowl Host Committee, and Thunderbirds Charities.