Updated
Updated · Calgary Herald · Aug 19
Calgary Tech Jobs Top 80,000 After 56% Surge, Leading North America for 3rd Year
Updated
Updated · Calgary Herald · Aug 19

Calgary Tech Jobs Top 80,000 After 56% Surge, Leading North America for 3rd Year

3 articles · Updated · Calgary Herald · Aug 19

Summary

  • Calgary’s tech workforce has grown past 80,000, with CBRE ranking the city 15th in North America after it climbed from 17th last year and 34th at the start of the decade.
  • A 56% jump in tech employment from 2022 to 2025 gave Calgary the fastest percentage job growth among major tech markets for a third straight year, ahead of Waterloo’s 37%.
  • More than 28,000 tech jobs were added between 2022 and 2024 while local schools graduated about 3,600 tech-degree holders, leaving Calgary with the second-highest tech talent flow behind Toronto.
  • Hiring conditions have flipped: Shifty Eye Games drew more than 2,000 applicants for three roles in five days, while executives said firms can now recruit experienced workers locally and from abroad.
  • Venture funding cooled to C$138 million across 26 deals in the first half from C$195 million a year earlier, but Calgary still ranked fourth in Canada as companies such as Orennia kept scaling.

Insights

With Canada becoming a dominant AI hub due to lower costs, are foreign tech giants exploiting cheap labor or building true innovation?
As AI fuels a massive real estate boom in Canadian cities, can smaller emerging hubs handle the sudden strain on their infrastructure?