Karat

Can you guess the No.1 top city for top engineering talent in the world?📍

Seattle, Washington, has claimed the top spot, ranking #1 globally with 38.2% of engineers estimated to be in the top quartile among global candidates.

Seattle’s leadership in engineering quality reflects the region’s deep concentrations of cloud infrastructure expertise, AI platform development, and advanced product engineering, ushering in the human + AI era.

Read our latest blog to learn why Seattle is the top city for software engineering talent in 2026:

Why Seattle is the top city for software engineering talent in 2026 Read more about why Seattle beat out all other U.S. cities in elite engineering talent and some of the hiring challenges companies might face.

Karat’s 2026 Top Cities rankings for engineering talent are live!

Karat ranked the top 40 cities with the highest concentrations of top-performing interview candidates. The report also covers labor costs based on median salaries, and details about the size and composition of each city's talent pool.

Here’s the reality: is widening the gap between top-performing engineers and the rest, making access to elite talent more critical than ever.

Stop guessing where to focus your technical hiring efforts; let the data guide your strategy. Dive into the full report to explore where top talent is concentrated globally.

Check out the interactive landing page and download the full report: https://karat.com/resource/top-cities-to-hire-engineers/