Calgary climbs 3 spots in new study of top tech destinations

A Commercial Real Estate Services report shows Calgary is outpacing major centres in tech job growth and has moved up its ranking in North America.

Alberta in general and Calgary specifically continue to generate growth in the tech sector -- particularly in terms of AI jobs -- according to a new study.

Dallas-based CBRE (Global Commercial Real Estate Services) released a new report, 2025 Scoring Tech Talent, which analyzes North American markets in terms of their labour market conditions.

According to CBRE’s Michael Hoffman, who is the vice-president managing director in Calgary, the arrow is pointing up for the local market.

“In the last three years, we’ve seen a 61 per cent increase in tech talent to about 64,000 (jobs) in Calgary today,” Hoffman said in a Wednesday interview with CTV News.

In the study, the top 50 markets in the U.S. and Canada were assessed according to their competitive advantages and appeal to tech employers and employees.

Calgary ranked #17 overall, with Toronto (#3) and the Waterloo region (#7) the highest-ranked Canadian locations.

Other Canadian cities landing in the top 20 included Vancouver (#10), Ottawa (#11) and Montreal (#15).

Edmonton was ranked at #38 overall, landing between Columbus (#37) and Nashville (#39) and just behind Quebec City, which ranked #35.

San Francisco was ranked as the top tech market, followed by Seattle, Toronto, New York and Austin, Texas.

Hoffman said those jobs were a blend of “true tech jobs” in addition to jobs in the fintech (financial technology), oil and gas and green energy sectors.

The report indicates that Calgary has the fastest-growing tech sector on the continent, although Hoffman said that’s a percentage measurement based on a relatively modest overall base compared to someplace like the Bay Area, which has more than 400,000 tech sector jobs.

Hoffman says a blend of low setup costs together with a young demographic base and high livability ranking that helps draw youthful talent to the city all work to Calgary’s advantage.

What’s new in this report is the rise of jobs involving artificial intelligence (AI).

“The growth in AI talent is growing, both at the university level and then at the job level,” Hoffman said.

“Just with data centres and the artificial intelligence being used in all platforms, not just in true tech but in oil and gas, fintech, you name it -- social media -- there’s AI being introduced into all facets of business.”

With files from CTV’s Teri Fikowski