Toronto eclipsed New York, and Waterloo jumped 11 spots to become North America's top tech market.
Canada's strong artificial intelligence talent pipeline helped it achieve a higher tech talent growth rate than the United States (US) in 2024, according to a 2025 report. Technical Talent Assessment report.
Canada added 66,600 technology jobs last year. That's an increase of 5.9 percent, compared with a 1.1 percent increase in the United States, according to the report. The report also found that Canada's technology industry accounts for three-quarters of the country's job growth and is growing at about twice the rate of the overall workforce.
Canada's technology industry accounts for three-quarters of the country's job growth and is growing at about twice the rate of the overall workforce.
An annual report released by US commercial real estate firm CBRE analyzes the quality of North American markets for “high-skilled” tech talent. Market rankings are determined based on a weighted analysis of 13 indicators, including the concentration of technical talent, the flow of technical talent and investment in research and development. Canadian cities such as Toronto, Waterloo, Edmonton and Calgary emerged as stronger tech markets on this year's list.
Toronto's strong artificial intelligence talent pool helped propel it up the rankings, according to CBRE second year in a rowbeating out third place in the New York metro area. Toronto remains the highest-ranking Canadian city on the list, behind only Seattle and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Vancouver moved up one spot from last year to round out the top ten, but Waterloo Region made the biggest jump on the list. The region moved up 11 positions to seventh place, making it into the top 10 for the first time. The report attributes its rapid growth to the rise of computer and information systems managers, which has become the fastest-growing occupation of all technical jobs in North America due to the rise of artificial intelligence.
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Alberta's largest cities were near Waterloo. Edmonton jumped 11 spots to 38th on the list, and Calgary just overtook Waterloo as the fastest-growing Canadian market between 2021 and 2024, up 61 per cent.
In addition to large markets, CBRE also has North America's Next 25, which evaluates smaller, “up-and-coming” tech talent markets. Halifax came in second, with London, Ont. finished fourth and Winnipeg was ninth. In this ranking, London and Halifax have seen the biggest gains in tech talent over the past three years, with increases of 54.5 per cent and 43.5 per cent respectively.
Artistic image courtesy of Annie Spratt via Unsplash.
