Tech and software companies are flocking to Toronto at unheard-of rates, and there's no question the city is asserting itself as a global tech leader.

Terms like "emerging" and "up-and-coming" are no longer part of the discourse as Toronto firmly establishes itself on the upper tier of tech business destinations, recently moving to the #3 spot in CBRE's new Scoring Tech Talent report.

Toronto's ascension on the list — climbing from the #4 spot in 2021's ranking — is the product of immense growth in the tech sector between 2016 and 2021. The city registered the highest tech employment growth of all 50 North American cities ranked during this period, with an impressive 88,900 jobs added.

Toronto’s tech talent pool experienced the most growth in North America between 2016 and 2021, according to CBRE’s new Scoring Tech Talent report. Toronto pulled in 88,900 jobs in 5 years while Vancouver saw a 63% increase of its tech force. https://t.co/VEeXr5OB6c

— CBRE Canada (@cbreCanada) July 18, 2022

Only the San Francisco Bay Area (home to Silicon Valley and tech giants like Apple and Salesforce) with a score of 85.52, along with Seattle (where Amazon is based) at 79.39, ranked higher than the 6ix.

Just think about that for a second.

Third place, but only behind cities ordained as tech hubs by the sometimes space-faring billionaire class. Even New York City and its surrounding metropolitan area failed to outrank Toronto despite the Big Apple's monumental stature.

Toronto briefly ranked in the top spot on this list back in 2020, though, like everything that happened that year, it comes with a bold asterisk.

CBRE's annual report scores tech markets based on employment growth, defining tech talent as an umbrella term representing 20 key professions, including software engineers and systems and data managers.

"Canadian markets continue to be among North America's top-performing destinations for tech talent, with 11 cities well-positioned in the latest rankings," says CBRE Vice Chairman Paul Morassutti.

"It's a testament to the impressive momentum this sector has been gathering over the past five years."

"Though the industry faces some very real, short-term cyclical challenges, our longer-term thesis remains unchanged: the technology sector will continue to drive outsized growth as our knowledge-based economy expands."

Here are CBRE's top 10 cities for tech talent as of 2022:

1. San Francisco Bay Area
2. Seattle
3. Toronto
4. Washington
5. New York Metro
6. Austin
7. Boston
8. Vancouver
9. Dallas/Fort Worth
10. Denver