Move over SF. The next big tech talent market is in Alabama.

To the pride of some residents and the ire of others, San Francisco is unapologetically the tech capital of the world. But for the first time, another city is making a dent in that space.

A new report by real estate and investment firm CBRE said that, for the first time, the New York metro area is home to more tech workers than the San Francisco Bay Area. And though the same report found the Bay Area still has the largest share of tech talent actually working in the tech industry, it also shows that as big tech sees massive layoffs and the region gets more expensive, workers are looking elsewhere for employment, including some unexpected cities.

CBRE reported that the Bay Area lost around 23,900 tech jobs between 2022 and 2025, or 6% of its total tech workforce. In that same period, the New York metro area gained 30,640, or an 8.4% bump, putting its total number of tech workers at 394,300. Among large tech markets, the city with the largest increase is not in the United States: Toronto saw its number of tech workers increase by 75,000, or a 26.5% spike, putting the city at third place.

Having more tech workers, though, doesn’t mean more people are working in the tech industry. The Los Angeles Times reported that some of the shift to New York could be due to finance companies being early adopters of artificial intelligence. But as rising costs make it harder for people to live and work in Mayor Daniel Lurie’s “city on the rise” or Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s New York City, some unexpected players are rising through the ranks to become the next tech talent markets.

CBRE listed Huntsville, Alabama, better known by locals as “Rocket City” for its aerospace innovation history, as the No. 1 next tech talent market. In the last three years, the tech worker population in Alabama’s most populous city has grown by 17.9%, with nearly 26,000 tech workers employed there. 

According to the report, the average salary for tech workers in Huntsville last year was $123,142. That would bode quite well for workers looking to keep more of what they make, given that the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Huntsville is around $900, according to Zillow, compared with San Francisco’s average rent of roughly $4,000 a month for the same type of unit. 

The No. 2 up-and-comer for tech markets lies far north of the border in Halifax, Nova Scotia. CBRE reports that the coastal Canadian city was home to 20,300 tech workers, with growth surpassing Rocket City at 19.4%. Though it’s not known for a sprawling techno-sphere, the city is not so far off the map. Earlier this year, the Pentagon awarded UCore Rare Metals, a Halifax-based rare earth metals company, with a $22 million contract. Rounding out the report’s list of the top five next tech talent markets are Colorado Springs, Colorado; Dayton, Ohio; and London, Ontario.

But the city with the most explosive growth actually lies just in the shadow of the New York metro area. Only around 40 miles northeast, Stamford, Connecticut, boasted a 39.5% jump in its tech worker population in the last three years. Though the city only has 16,350 tech workers, CBRE reported it had the highest average wage on its list of burgeoning tech markets at $145,607. 

CBRE attributed these jumps to small-market cities and to more businesses’ adoption of new technology in their day-to-day work, allowing them to rake in talent they normally wouldn’t.

“Fostering talent development in lesser-known and underdeveloped U.S. and Canadian markets could offer additional talent pools to employers seeking to expand their geographical reach and uncover opportunities,” the report said.