Calgary has outpaced all other North American cities in tech job growth over the past five years, according to a new report from CBRE, the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm.
The study ranked the top 50 markets in the United States and Canada based on their competitive advantages and appeal to both employers and tech employees. Thirteen metrics were used to calculate the rankings. Each metric is weighted differently based on its importance to job creation and innovation.
“Tech talent concentration metrics have the highest weights because they signify clustering of tech workers,” reads the report. “Labour costs for tech talent are weighted more heavily than office rents because companies allocate more capital to labour than to real estate.”
Eight Canadian cities made the top 50 of the tech talent scorecard.
While employment in Toronto’s tech sector only grew by 44% in the last five years, notably less than Calgary, it took the highest rank out of Canadian cities, coming in fourth place. Flanking Toronto were Ottawa, Vancouver, Montreal, Waterloo, Calgary, Quebec City, and Edmonton, in 10th, 11th, 15th, 18th, 20th, 40th, and 49th place, respectively.
Out of all North American cities, San Francisco came in first place. The city saw an 18.6% growth in employment over the last five years but employed a total of 436,740 tech employees.
The Canadian city with the most tech employees was Toronto, with a total of 314,100 working in the sector in 2023.
CBRE Canada Chairman Paul Morassutti said that Canadian cities have a high concentration of young people, ensuring that the future of technology-driven growth will remain strong.
“The tech sector has come off the boil but remains a key driver of our economy and office demand. Four Canadian cities produced the highest percentage increase of tech talent jobs, which points to the underlying strength of the tech sector in Canada,” said Morassutti.
While Calgary topped Canadian cities with job growth of 78.1% over the last five years in the sector, Ottawa came in second place at 51.7%. Waterloo came in third place with a 45.5% employment growth. However, all three cities ranked lower than Toronto overall, which saw an increase of 44%.
Vancouver, Montreal, Edmonton, and Quebec City saw growth of 30.7%, 30.3%, 24.2%, and 13.9%, respectively.
Ottawa and Calgary’s overall ranking increased from last year. Every other Canadian city fell in the rankings.
While these cities saw growth, 30% of North America’s top 50 tech cities, 15 of 50, lost jobs in the tech sector.
The report also calculated the number of degree completions in each area. Edmonton saw the most significant growth in degrees issued for Canadian cities, rising 67.2% over the last five years. The Canadian city with the lowest growth was Quebec City, which grew a mere 5.3%.
Tech workers accounted for 1.1 million of Canada’s employees in 2023, according to the report. Job growth in the sector grew 30.2%, compared to a 7.5% growth in overall employment since 2019.
The most recent data used in the study were from Apr. 2024, the same month that the Liberal released its 2024 federal budget.
The tech sector warned that a capital gains tax hike would cause “irreparable harm” to the Canadian innovation economy, causing Canadian entrepreneurs and tech workers to leave Canada for a more competitive environment with less tax, like the United States.
Near the end of Apr., over 1000 Canadian CEOs and tech leaders signed an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, urging them to reconsider the proposed capital gains tax increase.
The signatories on the letter have since grown to over 4,000, with over 650 tech executives from Toronto alone.
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