These Canadian cities rank high for tech talent in 2026 — here’s what they pay
A new report that highlights tech job growth and talent across North America has eight Canadian cities in the top 50.
The ranking is based on Commercial Real Estate Services (CBRE)’s latest Scoring Tech Talent report.
If you vividly remember last year’s report, good on you, because the top six markets remain unchanged: San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Toronto, New York Metro, Austin and Washington, D.C.
Toronto isn’t the only Canadian city to rank among North America’s top tech talent markets.
This year, Vancouver comes in ninth overall, followed by Waterloo Region in 10th and Montreal in 11th. Ottawa ranks 14th, while Calgary landed in 15th.
Then there’s Quebec City, which lands in 37th place. The historic city might not be the first (or second) place that comes to mind when you think of Canada’s tech scene, making it something of a digital dark horse. But CBRE’s ranking suggests there’s more going on there than its cobblestone streets might suggest.
Lastly, Edmonton ranks 42nd overall in 2026.
The ranking looks at 50 of the largest tech talent markets in the U.S. and Canada. CBRE uses 13 metrics to compare each city, including the size and concentration of its tech workforce, job growth and costs for employers. Tech talent concentration is given the most weight, while labour costs outweigh other factors like office rents.
Highly skilled tech talent workers total 7.6 million in the U.S. and Canada and comprise more than 20 occupations. In Canada, the total tech talent employment increased by 7.6 per cent (roughly 91,300 jobs).
The report also found that the number of workers with AI skills across the U.S. and Canada jumped 45 per cent year over year to 751,000 in 2026, with Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver accounting for 60 per cent of Canada’s AI-specialty talent.
But despite all that growth, the broader tech industry still has a diversity problem.
CBRE says tech talent across all industries are “predominantly White, Asian and male,” with women, Black workers and Hispanic workers underrepresented.
How much do these workers make?
Unsurprisingly, tech workers tend to earn more than the average worker. In the U.S., tech wages are about 15 per cent higher than the overall average. Workers in San Francisco, for instance, earn an average of $211,048. In Canada, the tech wage premium is only 8 per cent, CBRE says.
All salary figures in the CBRE report are in U.S. dollars. The average annual wage for tech talent is $86,922 in Vancouver, $80,178 in Ottawa, $77,019 in Calgary and $72,554 in Montreal.
Among smaller markets with less than 50,000 workers, Waterloo Region has an average annual wage of $87,955, compared with $71,977 in Quebec City and $70,185 in Edmonton.
One interesting finding in the report is that software engineers make up a larger share of Canada’s tech talent workforce than in the U.S. According to CBRE, software engineers account for 55.4 per cent of Canada’s tech talent, compared with 48.2 per cent in the U.S.
You can read the full report on CBRE’s website to learn more.