London has emerged as the world’s number two tech talent hotspot, leading the UK and outpacing global rivals, according to Colliers’ latest rankings.

The professional service firm’s Global Tech Markets: Top Talent Locations 2025 report, found that the English capital came behind only San Francisco thanks to its skilled workforce, abundance of talent, strong university networks, and thriving startup culture.

Colliers’ study found that London leads all EMEA markets, and was one of only two markets globally to achieve an overall score of 4.0 or higher out of five, earning a perfect score for its tech talent pipeline.   

However, London was not the only UK city to make the list, with Birmingham finding its way onto the global ranking with an overall score of 2.2, with Colliers finding the city performing well in VC funding and its own talent pipeline.

While London came out (almost) on top, the US continues to dominate. Of the top five global tech talent markets, three of them are major American cities, including Seattle and New York, while multiple others are scattered throughout the list, making up fourteen of the top 50 across Colliers’ ranking.

The study found the US leading across the board in terms of tech hiring and open job posts, as well as benefiting from the strongest VC funding ecosystem, with even less-established markets like Pittsburgh, Detroit, San Diego and Tampa standing out.

However, while America may lead the tables, it does not dominate them. 

Beijing and Bengaluru were standout tech hubs, coming in at fifth and sixth place overall, with both China and India each placing five markets in the global top 50, driven by surging venture capital investment and robust industry performance.

The EMEA region also performed well as a whole, representing 43% of the top fifty tech leading markets, with Germany in particular showing above average performance across all categories,  being home to another five markets, led by Munich with an overall score of 3.1.

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Paris, however, was the top performer in continental Europe with a tech talent pipeline score of 4.5, offering among the highest concentrations of data science talent.

Despite being the home base for major European AI startups like Mistral and Poolside, the French capital came out seventh overall, being let down by a weaker VC funding environment and labour index than its peers, even though Colliers found Paris has the second largest talent pool in Europe after London.

“While talent markets are dominated by the US, Germany, China and India, tech executives should also be exploring regional centres and emerging cities when developing their unique workforce and real estate strategies,” concludes the report.