Seattle tops Karat's 2026 engineering talent rankings

Karat has published its 2026 ranking of the world's top cities for engineering talent, with Seattle taking the top spot.

The report draws on more than 600,000 technical interviews conducted in over 70 countries. It ranks 40 cities by the share of engineers scoring in the top quartile globally.

Seattle rose from seventh to first, with 38.2% of engineers in the city scoring in the top quartile. Amsterdam ranked second at 37.6%, followed by San Francisco at 34.8% and Tokyo at 33.2%.

Outside the top four, the rankings showed sharp movement among North American cities. Toronto climbed from 14th to fifth, Chicago from 33rd to 12th, and Raleigh/Durham from 24th to 17th. Dallas reached 13th.

London also advanced, moving from 30th to 16th with 25.9% of candidates reaching the top quartile. Other cities in the top 20 were Washington DC, Pittsburgh, Austin, Bangalore, Singapore, New York, Vancouver, Delhi NCR, San Diego, Mumbai and Minneapolis.

Sector shift

The changes reflect a broader redistribution of engineering demand as companies outside the traditional technology sector expand their software and AI workforces. Financial services, healthcare and retail were among the sectors driving stronger demand in cities not previously seen as leading technology hubs.

The data suggests that established centres still hold dense pools of engineering talent, while a second tier of markets gains ground as local employers invest more heavily in technical hiring. The pattern was especially visible in cities where large corporate employers or fast-growing fintech groups have expanded.

Dallas stood out as one example, with growth linked to company relocations and fintech expansion. Raleigh/Durham also rose notably, with 25.6% of engineers in the market scoring in the top quartile globally.

The ranking is based on candidate performance in Karat's interview process as a measure of talent quality. Karat works with employers including Goldman Sachs, Google, Mastercard, Visa, Atlassian and Duolingo.

Changing map

The latest list points to a talent market that is becoming less concentrated, even as a small number of cities remain clear leaders. Seattle, Amsterdam, San Francisco and Tokyo made up the top four and recorded the highest shares of candidates in the top quartile.

Several of the biggest shifts came from cities that had been well outside the top tier in the previous ranking. Chicago's jump of 21 places was among the largest in the table, while Toronto entered the top five after rising nine spots.

Some previously higher-ranked cities slipped while remaining in the top 20. Singapore fell from second to 10th, while London and Mumbai were among those that improved from lower positions.

Mohit "Mo" Bhende, co-founder and chief executive officer of Karat, said the shift reflects broader changes in how companies view technical teams. "The AI economy is rewriting the talent map in real time. The cities that have always led are pulling further ahead, but what's just as interesting is what's happening everywhere else," he said.

He added that demand is spreading beyond the technology sector. "AI transformation is creating meaningful engineering demand across financial services, healthcare, and retail; sectors that used to treat technology as a cost center are now building it as a competitive advantage. Anchor employers making these bets are creating thriving engineering cultures in new, and somewhat surprising, cities around the globe. The economic ripple effect from that is real, and it's just getting started."