The Seattle office market recently became one of the top tech-talent markets in the industry, with only the San Francisco Bay Area and Washington, D.C., ranking ahead of the Emerald City. Tech-talented individuals, predominantly college-educated workers, are attracted to tech-driven cities such as Seattle. According to CBRE, 3.5 percent of the total U.S. workforce consists of tech-talented workers, and that portion is growing.

Large companies such as Microsoft Corp. and Boeing Co. along with fairly affordable apartment rental rates are attracting tech-talented millennials to Seattle. The city also benefits from its No. 1 ranking for educational attainment, with 58.9 percent of individuals 25 and older having a bachelor’s degree or higher, according to the 2016 Scoring Tech Talent Report from CBRE Research. Educational attainment rates for similar cities on the West Coast rank the San Francisco Bay Area fourth with 48.7 percent and Portland, Ore., ninth with 46.1 pe