Vancouver named top city in North America for tech job growth

Vancouver tends to find itself at the top of a wide variety of lists, and now the city the has taken the top spot in annual list that highlights tech sector growth in cities across North America.

The ranking comes courtesy of  the CBRE Group’s annual Tech-30 report, which analyzes the 30 US and Canadian leading tech markets.

And this year, Vancouver shot up 27 spots to take the number one position in high-tech job growth.

The report found that from 2017 – 2018, tech jobs in the city grew by 30%, with 13,600 new jobs added, while its average asking rent rate for business space increased by 9%.

“We’ve seen the growth, but something like this [ranking] solidifies it in real terms,” said Raghwa Gopal, President and CEO of Innovate BC.

Gopal told Daily Hive that Vancouver has “always had a very high talent pool, and I think that’s very attractive for companies when they move here, and hire people here as well.”

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Overall, the report found that within the 30 leading technology markets in the US and Canada, high-tech software/services job growth “overwhelmingly” outperformed national averages over the past two years

Among these markets, 24 exceeded the 3.4% U.S. high-tech job growth rate in both 2017 and 2018, and Vancouver was the top high- tech job growth market at 30%.

The first place ranking bumps Seattle out of the top spot.