Vancouver's tech talent moves up to 8th best in North America: report

Deloitte Summit at 410 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, captured on March 16, 2022. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

For another consecutive year, Vancouver’s tech talent ecosystem has moved up in CBRE’s high-profile annual ranking of North America’s 50 tech markets.

Vancouver is now ranked eighth in North America — up from 28th in 2018, 12th in 2019 and 2020, and 11th in 2021. For the 2022 ranking, Vancouver is just behind Boston and ahead of Dallas/Fort Worth.

CBRE’s ranking is based on 13 metrics that measure each market’s depth, vitality, and attractiveness to companies seeking tech talent and to tech workers seeking employment. This includes tech concentration signifying the clustering of tech workers, labour costs, and office rents. The data used for the 2020 ranking is based on 2021 data.

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San Francisco tops CBRE’s list, followed by Seattle and Toronto, which moved up one spot compared to the 2021 ranking.

The tech talent scorecard ranking by CBRE pegs Vancouver at 62.19 points, which is only 0.19 behind Boston, 3.00 behind Austin, 4.89 behind New York City, 5.69 behind Washington DC, and 6.74 behind Toronto.

For the period between 2016 (the year CBRE began its tech market analysis) and 2021, Vancouver had the highest percentage growth of the number of tech employees out of the 50 cities — growing by 63%. This is followed by Toronto at 44% and Quebec City at 43%.

In real growth numbers, Toronto had the most tech job growth of 88,900 workers, followed by Seattle with 45,560 and Vancouver with 44,460.

In terms of actual total labour market size, Vancouver ranks 14th with 115,400 tech jobs in 2021 — just behind Denver’s 117,620 jobs, tied with Philadelphia, and just ahead of Minneapolis/St. Paul’s 100,990 jobs.

Vancouver’s largest tech occupation is software developers and programmers with 52,600 workers, representing an 86% five-year growth. Over the same period, the average wages in this occupation have grown by 24.4% to $97,885.

This is followed by computer support, database, and systems with 42,600 jobs, technology engineering-related with 12,400 jobs, and computer and information systems mangers with 7,800 jobs. Overall average tech wages across all Vancouver tech occupations went up by 17% over the five-year period.

The biggest tech ecosystems are San Francisco Bay Area with 378,870 jobs, New York City with 344,520, Toronto with 289,700, Washington DC with 259,310, Los Angeles with 235,800, and Seattle with 189,570.

Montreal’s market has 148,900 tech jobs, ranking it at 10th in terms of real size, and representing a 27% growth from 2016 to 2021. It ranks 15th in terms of tech talent overall.

Calgary and Edmonton rank 28th and 35th, respectively, for tech talent. Between 2016 and 2021, Calgary saw its tech workforce size grow by 22% or 7,400 to a total of 40,600 jobs, while Edmonton went up by 40% or 9,200 to a total of 32,400 jobs.

In terms of a tech firm’s cost of setting up a large presence in a city, all eight Canadian cities have the lowest costs of all 50 North American cities analyzed due in part to exchange rates. Vancouver ranks fifth for lowest cost — ahead of Waterloo, Ottawa, and Calgary, but behind Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec City.

Top 50 North American cities for tech talent in 2022: CBRE

San Francisco Bay Area
Seattle
Toronto
Washington DC
New York City
Austin
Boston
Vancouver
Dallas/Fort Worth
Denver
Atlanta
Los Angeles
Ottawa
Baltimore
Montreal
Phoenix
San Diego
Salt Lake City
Raleigh-Durham
Chicago
Minneapolis/St. Paul
Philadelphia
Portland
Waterloo
Detroit
Pittsburgh
Charlotte
Calgary
Orlando
Madison
Columbus
Kansas City
South Florida
Tampa
Edmonton
Houston
Indianapolis
St. Louis
Quebec City
Sacramento
Nashville
Cleveland
Cincinnati
Hartford
Milwaukee
Jacksonville
San Antonio
Virginia Beach
Richmond
Inland Empire

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