CBRE’s Scoring Tech Talent 2025 report reveals a reshaped tech map across North America, and Canada’s performance is impossible to ignore. For the first time, Canadian tech talent growth decisively outpaced the U.S., with six cities ranking in the top 40 and three securing spots in the top 10.
What appears to be a simple reshuffling actually signals something bigger: tech companies, particularly in AI, cloud, and platform engineering, are expanding their focus to include Canada.
What the CBRE Report Measures
The annual CBRE report evaluates 75 markets across the U.S. and Canada based on 13 metrics, including total tech employment and degree output, as well as operating costs and industry concentration. Unlike lists that focus solely on startups or headcounts, this index weighs what matters most to enterprise leaders: sustainable pipelines, specialized talent, and market affordability.
Canadian Cities Gaining Ground
While U.S. giants like San Francisco and Seattle continue to lead in absolute scores, Canadian cities showed the strongest year-over-year momentum. Toronto overtook New York to become the #3 tech market in North America. Waterloo made an unprecedented leap from #18 to #7. Vancouver edged its way into the top 10. And markets like Edmonton, Calgary, and Quebec City are all climbing.
Waterloo’s Rapid Ascent into the Top 10
From #18 to #7 in One Year
In what CBRE called one of the “biggest leaps of the year,” Waterloo Region vaulted into 7th place, up 11 spots from 2024. That kind of upward movement is rare, and it suggests more than just a momentary boom. It reflects sustained growth in tech jobs, strong graduate output, and a dense network of AI talent and research partnerships.
Waterloo’s job growth rate between 2019 and 2024 hit 58%, one of the highest across all ranked cities. That growth has outpaced its graduate supply, suggesting employers are actively pulling talent into the region.
The Secret Sauce: Education, R&D, and AI
Waterloo benefits from a unique combination of academic horsepower and private-sector investment. The University of Waterloo consistently ranks among Canada’s top engineering schools, and the region’s ties to Toronto’s wider AI ecosystem give it access to one of the most advanced machine learning communities outside of the U.S.
The edge comes from specialization. Employers are finding the AI-savvy, security-conscious, product-oriented engineers they need without the cost premiums of a major metro.
Toronto, Vancouver, and Ottawa Remain Powerhouses
Toronto Becomes North America’s #3 Market
Toronto’s ascent to third place overall marks a new high-water mark for the city. With a tech labour force exceeding 330,000 workers, it’s now the largest tech market in Canada and the fourth-largest AI talent hub in North America.
What pushed Toronto ahead? According to CBRE, it came down to a balance of factors: a growing number of tech graduates, deep tech company presence across sectors, high AI specialization, and favourable cost dynamics. While wages are rising, they remain well below San Francisco levels, keeping total operational costs in check.
Vancouver and Ottawa Fueling the Innovation Engine
Vancouver, now #10 overall, benefits from its proximity to U.S. markets and a rich talent pipeline in cloud services, gaming, and applied AI. It also ranks among the most attractive cities for tech workers, with a high concentration of talent and strong retention rates.
Ottawa, while just outside the top 10 at #11, remains Canada’s most tech-concentrated city with more than 10% of total employment in tech. Its strength in cybersecurity, telecom, and government-linked innovation continues to attract long-term investment.
Talent Pipelines and Workforce Dynamics
Canada’s Universities Feed the Growth
CBRE highlights the fact that many Canadian cities, such as Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and especially Waterloo, produce more tech graduates than they can retain, creating surplus talent available to nearby markets or remote-first companies.
This educational edge, combined with Canada’s immigration pathways for high-skilled workers, has created a scalable, multilingual, and globally competitive workforce.
The Draw of AI Talent and Research Ecosystems
AI is the growth engine of this decade, and Canadian cities are overperforming. Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and Waterloo have established robust research ecosystems that support not only theoretical work but also applied AI across healthcare, fintech, government services, and beyond.
This isn’t happening in isolation. Canada’s national AI strategy and federal R&D investments have helped foster strong public-private collaborations, something that’s become increasingly attractive to multinational enterprises looking for policy-aligned innovation.
A Canadian Advantage Built for the Long Term
For global enterprises and increasingly, AI-first startups, Canada now offers a stable, scalable, and cost-efficient base of operations. Whether it’s building a hub in Toronto, tapping into Montreal’s AI brainpower, or deploying product teams from Calgary, the value proposition is clearer than ever.
Canada’s tech ecosystems are built for long-term viability, and with six cities in CBRE’s top 40 and three in the top 10, the data support this claim.
As demand for AI-driven digital experiences grows, Canada is emerging as a destination for innovation. Trew Knowledge helps global organizations harness this momentum by building platforms that seamlessly integrate AI. With the right mix of strategy and technical expertise, we empower digital teams to thrive. Contact our experts today.
