ATLANTA—One vital demand driver for office space in large and small US markets is tech talent clustering. And Atlanta ranks among the top 50 US tech talent markets in CBRE's latest research report, Scoring Tech Talent.

In fact, Atlanta ranks 10th on the overall tech talent list. What's more, Atlanta has the lowest multifamily rents, cost of living, occupancy costs and overall cost of doing business, when compared with the other cities in the top 10. Those cities include Silicon Valley, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, San Francisco Peninsula, New York, Seattle, Boston, Baltimore, and Austin. Atlanta's talent growth rate from 2010-2013 was 21.2%, making it the sixth-fastest growing market out of the top 10. 

"We have seen a growing level of venture capital investment in Atlanta tech companies over the last two years, much of which is coming from investors located outside of Atlanta, Silicon Valley in particular,” says Christian Devllin, who leads CBRE Atlanta's Tech and Media practice. “This further validates that Atlanta tech companies are on the radar of investors and experts across the nation, and implies that our tech ecosystem will continue to grow and evolve.”

Though tech talent comprises only 3.4% of the total US workforce—that's about 4.4 million workers—the high-tech industry accounted for more major US office leasing activity than any sector in both 2013 (13.6%) and 2014 (19%), according to the CBRE report. With Atlanta's educational attainment rate of 46.8%, a figure measuring the amount of individuals at least 25 years old with a bachelor's degree or higher, and the lowest overall cost of living and cost of doing business, the city's tech attraction momentum is expected to continue upward.

“For the past two years, the high-tech industry has not only spurred the economy as a whole, but it has been the top driver of commercial office activity, influencing rents and vacancy in major markets across the US, including Atlanta,” says Devlin. “Over half of my tech clients are projecting headcount growth over the next 12 to 24 months. I'm seeing just as much, if not more, organic growth from Atlanta based technology companies, as we are seeing from out-of-town tech companies opening offices here.”

Midtown's rebound has continued into the first quarter of 2015, with five multifamily projects under construction or recently completed and big-name relocations such as Worldpay's move to Atlantic Station. Several other notable technology companies are considering or have already flocked to the talent-rich, young area, including NCR, Twitter, RIB Software, MailChimp, Cardlytics and AthenaHealth.