U.S. markets defined by sectors most exposed to AI-driven job displacement are also seeing the strongest real estate demand from AI companies, according to new research from JLL. Conducted in partnership with MIT’s Sloan School of Management and Center for Real Estate, the research shows that AI is creating deep divergence across markets, industries, and asset classes, separating those with the capacity to adapt from those without.
JLL’s Where AI is Changing Jobs and What it Means for Real Estate research finds that even as overall U.S. tech employment declined by 1.5% in early 2026, office leasing demand in the sector continues to rebound. There’s a clear decoupling of AI growth from broader trends in tech and other office-using industries, according to JLL.
In San Francisco, for example, nearly 30% of total leasing since 2025 has come from AI companies, while the city carries among the highest exposure to AI-driven job dislocation risks in the U.S. JLL determined that a market’s capacity to adapt, capitalize on new opportunities and redeploy the workforce is more critical to real estate performance than exposure risk alone.
“The winning real estate strategies will be those that look beyond the headlines about job losses and focus on a market and industry’s ability to adapt,” said Alexandra Bryant, global CEO, Value & Risk Advisory at JLL. “It’s no longer about whether a market has AI exposure. It’s about whether it has the right mix of talent, infrastructure, and quality real estate to capitalize on the opportunities AI creates.”
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