Atlanta ranked among the most active North American cities for tech job growth between 2020 and 2021, according to CBRE’s annual Tech-30 report.

The city’s 13 percent growth in tech jobs helped propel office leasing activity across Atlanta, but specifically within its busiest tech submarket, Midtown. Midtown ranked as the seventh-largest gainer in net absorption (1.1 percent) among top tech submarkets in North America, according to the latest Tech-30 report. Between third quarter 2020 and second quarter 2022, Midtown Atlanta saw 103,198 sq. ft. of positive net absorption.

Large leases signed by companies like Visa and Micron Technologies have helped to cement Midtown as Atlanta’s premier tech submarket. Other firms from out-of-state have also taken notice. Since 2013, San Francisco Bay Area-based tech companies have leased approximately 2.1 million sq. ft. of office space in Atlanta. The city’s tech workforce of 102,615 people amounts to 13.4 percent of all local office-using positions.

“Developers completed approximately 2.8 million sq. ft. of new office space in Atlanta during the third quarter, including at least two notable projects in Midtown. These new projects should benefit from a flight to quality that companies are demonstrating with their real estate decisions, particularly tech companies that are competing for talent,” said Christian Devlin, Senior Vice President for CBRE in Atlanta.

Interest in Atlanta-based companies from venture capital firms has continued to increase. Local tech companies specifically received a majority (52.3 percent) of the $775.2 million worth of venture capital funding that came into Atlanta during the first half of 2022. These funds were spread across 51 deals.

“Looking back just five years, it’s incredible to see how much Atlanta’s tech scene has evolved,” continued Devlin. “Out-of-town tech companies continue to open new offices and expand existing ones while local firms continue to grow and demonstrate resilience in spite of a very competitive talent market and macroeconomic headwinds. At this point, there’s no question that Atlanta is a city that global tech employers and many of the largest venture funds in the world are focused on. Some reasons include our large, diverse, and fast-growing talent pool, overall quality of life and relative affordability.”

The 11th annual edition of CBRE’s Tech-30 report measures the industry’s impact on office demand and rents in the 30 leading tech markets in the U.S. and Canada, as well as select tech-heavy submarkets. CBRE’s analysis found that, over the past two years, more than two thirds of the top 30 North American tech markets registered office-rent growth. Seven of those increased by double-digit percentages. Meanwhile, while U.S. tech job growth slowed to a 2.1 percent year-over-year gain in this year’s first half, hiring momentum persists in many markets, including Atlanta.