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9/15/25
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This report provided by real estate services firm CBRE
Puget Sound’s tech talent workforce grew modestly amid growing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), according to CBRE’s 2025 Scoring Tech Talent report.
Puget Sound’s tech talent workforce increased 5.1% to nearly 185,000 specialists between 2021 and 2024. The Seattle-area has the seventh-largest tech talent workforce among the top 50 markets.
Puget Sound has the third-largest cluster of AI-specialty talent in the U.S. (32,965), behind the San Francisco Bay Area (76,079) and New York Metro (47,245). Puget Sound’s tech industry employs the largest share of AI specialty talent (61.8%).
“The AI technology surge has added vibrancy to downtown Seattle and accelerated real estate demand. From established companies adopting AI tools to startups building breakthrough technology, the excitement around AI is fueling the region’s tech ecosystem,” said Michael Dash, vice chairman at CBRE.
Meanwhile, the area’s leading universities produce top tech talent. The University of Washington ranked ninth in the top 15 U.S. universities with AI programs, according to U.S. News and World Report.
“Eastside occupiers are also a magnet for AI talent. The Eastside’s established companies have been at the forefront of every innovation cycle, and their investments into the region’s startups and AI training programs will position Puget Sound for growth,” said Brian Biege, executive vice president at CBRE.
Overall U.S. tech talent employment grew 1.1% (64,140 jobs) in 2024, far below its peak in 2022 (+7%). Canada had stronger growth (+5.9%) than the U.S., adding 66,600 tech talent jobs overall, primarily in the high-tech industry. The number of computer and information systems managers surged in the U.S. (+9%) and Canada (+16%) due to the widespread adoption of AI, making that job the fastest growing among all tech talent roles across North America. In 2024, computer and information systems managers accounted for 83% of U.S. tech talent job growth.
Nationally, tech talent at financial services, insurance and real estate firms grew by 7% while the high-tech industry contracted 3.1%.
CBRE’s annual Scoring Tech Talent report covers 75 North American markets, ranks the top 50 tech markets in the U.S. and Canada and outlines tech talent labor market trends amid economic shifts. CBRE also ranks the Next 25 emerging tech markets on a narrower set of criteria. Tech talent is a group of highly skilled workers in more than 20 tech-oriented occupations – such as software engineers and systems and data managers – across all industries.
For the third year, CBRE’s report examines tech talent wages paid by tech companies based on geography. Puget Sound had the second-highest average annual wage for tech talent employed by the tech industry in 2023 ($186,621), behind the San Francisco Bay Area ($215,072).
Puget Sound stood out in the report in several other key areas:
• Puget Sound is the second largest market by share of tech talent working in the tech industry (53.2%) behind only the San Francisco Bay Area.
• It is among the most competitive tech job markets. Seattle-area companies added 8,940 jobs between 2022 and 2024, while generating 14,107 tech-degree graduates between 2021 and 2023. That surplus of tech workers means Seattle offers a ready tech labor pool for expanding and relocating companies.
• It had the eighth-highest educational attainment rate in 2023 (48.6%). Washington, D.C. (54.8%), the San Francisco Bay Area (53.9%) and Raleigh-Durham (53.3%) were the top three markets.
• It also had a 9.3% increase in residents in their 20s with college degrees from 2018 to 2023, the 12th biggest gain among large U.S. markets, and a 19.9% increase in residents in their 30s with college degrees during the same period, the ninth best gain among large U.S. markets
• Puget Sound was one of the most diverse markets for female tech degree graduates.
• It was the second most expensive market for a tech company to operate in. The estimated one-year cost for a 500-employee company in 60k sf of office space is more than $71 mil. The San Francisco Bay Area is the most expensive at nearly $87 mil per year.
• Puget Sound is in the middle of the pack for rent-to-tech wage ratio (16.3%), which is nearly half of the affordability standard of 30% of income to housing.
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