Based on the annual report by Ze Ping Macro Team and the Zhaopin Research Group
Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen have again claimed the top three positions in China’s 2026 city talent attractiveness ranking, as the country’s professional workforce continues to gravitate toward first-tier cities and the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta megaregions. Hangzhou and Suzhou were the biggest movers among the leading tier, underscoring how industrial dynamism and regional integration are reshaping China’s internal talent map.
The 2026 edition — formally the China City Talent Attractiveness Ranking: 2026, produced by economist Ren Zeping’s Ze Ping Macro Team together with job portal Zhaopin — tracks cross-city jobseekers’ resume-submission behaviour to identify where China’s mobile talent is choosing to locate. The underlying dataset is large: Zhaopin reports more than 404 million registered professional users and cumulative cooperation with more than 15.49 million enterprises. Among users who submitted a resume in 2025, roughly 80% held a junior-college degree or higher, far above the 22.1% share of junior-college-or-above education in China’s overall employed population. About four in ten jobseekers were cross-city applicants — people whose current city of residence differed from the city to which they submitted a resume.
Methodology in brief: The talent attractiveness index combines a city’s talent inflow share, net talent inflow share, fresh-graduate inflow share, master’s-and-above inflow share, per-capita disposable income and net population inflow. A net inflow share is defined as (talent flowing into a city minus talent flowing out of it) divided by the national pool of mobile talent. The report cautions that resume submissions are a proxy for intent and may diverge from actual relocation.
The 2026 Top 100: Stability at the Top, Churn Beneath
The top of the ranking was strikingly stable: the top ten cities were unchanged from 2024, even as Hangzhou and Suzhou improved their positions within the leading group. The 2026 top ten were:
- Beijing
- Shanghai
- Shenzhen
- Hangzhou
- Guangzhou
- Suzhou
- Chengdu
- Nanjing
- Wuhan
- Wuxi
Beijing has held the No. 1 position for multiple years running, underpinned by pronounced wage advantages, a diversified industrial base and a dense cluster of top universities and research institutes. Shanghai’s economy is large and growing steadily, with high-tech industries and modern services expanding rapidly. Shenzhen has stabilised in third place. Hangzhou’s rise — driven by smart IoT, e-commerce and advanced manufacturing — lifted it to fourth; Guangzhou held fifth; Suzhou, benefiting from deep manufacturing roots and Shanghai-linked regional synergies, rose to sixth. Chengdu and Nanjing remained seventh and eighth respectively, Wuhan stayed ninth, and Wuxi held a top-ten place for a fourth consecutive year after first breaking into the top tier in 2022.
The geographic skew was pronounced. Of the top 50 cities, 36 were in the east, six in the central region, six in the west and two in the northeast — equivalent to 41.4%, 7.5%, 6.3% and 5.9% of each region’s cities respectively. Across urban tiers, the top 50 included all four first-tier cities, 27 second-tier cities, 16 third-tier cities and three fourth-tier cities. Within the five major city clusters, the Yangtze River Delta contributed 21 cities to the top 50 (up one from 2024), the Pearl River Delta seven, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei three, the middle Yangtze River three and the Chengdu-Chongqing cluster two.
Who Is on the Move: The Profile of the 2025 Mobile Talent Pool
The report paints a clear portrait of China’s cross-city jobseekers in 2025. Men accounted for 62% of mobile talent, compared with 56% of all jobseekers — extending a steady rise from 56:44 in 2022 to 62:38 in 2025, and confirming that men remain more likely to move between cities for work. Younger workers dominate: 68% of mobile talent were aged 18 to 30, versus 59% of all jobseekers, with the 18–25 and 26–30 age bands alone representing 46.4% and 21.3% of mobile talent respectively.
Educational attainment is rising fastest among movers. In 2025, 58% of mobile talent held a bachelor’s degree or higher, up 4.3 percentage points year on year and 8 points above the 50% share for jobseekers overall — compared with 51.6%, 52.1% and 53.7% in 2022, 2023 and 2024. Industries are concentrating as well: 56% of mobile talent were distributed across IT/internet, manufacturing and real estate, up 1 point. The three largest sectors for all jobseekers — IT/communications/electronics/internet (19%), production/processing/manufacturing (18.5%) and real estate/construction (15.8%) — together accounted for 53.2% of applicants, a 1.2-point increase. Real estate’s share of mobile talent remained elevated relative to its share of all jobseekers, reflecting an industry still in adjustment.
Where Talent Is Flowing: East In, Megaregions Consolidating
The net-inflow figures tell the clearest story. In 2025, the east, central, west and northeast recorded net talent inflow shares of +14.1%, −7.1%, −4.0% and −2.6% respectively — the east strengthening while the central region’s net outflow widened and the west and northeast held steady at prior levels. Among urban tiers, first-tier cities posted a net inflow share of +4.2%, recovering from 3.7% in 2024; second-tier cities swung from a small net inflow in 2024 to a small net outflow of −0.2% in 2025; third- and fourth-tier cities recorded −0.3% and −3.4%.
Nearly six in ten mobile professionals headed to one of the five major city clusters. The Yangtze River Delta’s net inflow share rose from 7.4% in 2021 to 8.3% in 2025, the highest among the five clusters, while the Pearl River Delta improved from 4.1% to 4.5%. Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei posted a third consecutive year of net outflow at −0.6%, and the middle Yangtze and Chengdu-Chongqing clusters also recorded net outflows of −1.4% and −0.4%. Both fresh graduates and highly educated talent remained heavily biased toward leading cities: 16.6% of fresh-graduate resume submissions and 22.8% of master’s-and-above submissions went to first-tier cities, above the 15.1% share of mobile talent overall; combined first- and second-tier inflow shares were 64% for graduates and 70% for master’s-and-above candidates.
The First-Tier Cities: Net Inflows Recover Across the Board
In 2025, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou all saw year-on-year improvements in net talent inflow share, at 0.73%, 1.32%, 1.30% and 0.91% respectively — Shanghai the highest.
Beijing recorded net inflow shares of 1.0%, 1.5%, 0.5%, 0.4% and 0.7% from 2021 to 2025. Although population controls and non-core function relocation have reduced both inflow and outflow, outflows have contracted more sharply, producing a 0.4-point year-on-year recovery in 2025. Tianjin was the largest single source and destination city, at 6.1% in each direction, reflecting Beijing’s pronounced “siphon” effect on nearby cities. Beijing’s 2025 GDP exceeded 5.2 trillion yuan, with urban per-capita disposable income of 96,000 yuan, second only to Shanghai.
Shanghai posted net inflow shares of 2.1%, 1.9%, 1.5%, 1.3% and 1.32% from 2021 to 2025. Its economy is the largest in the country, its high-end industries are clustered, and its income levels are high; combined with a relaxed household-registration (hukou) regime, these factors have curbed outflows. In 2025, Shanghai’s GDP reached 5.7 trillion yuan and urban per-capita disposable income was 97,000 yuan, both national highs. The city has built four “trillion-yuan” industrial clusters — electronic information, automotive, high-end equipment, and software and information services — and in late 2025 revised its hukou rules across multiple channels including the “residence-to-household” transition, talent recruitment and overseas-returnee settlement, adding roughly 140,000 registered residents over the year.
Shenzhen maintained net inflows of 1.4%, 1.1%, 1.2%, 1.2% and 1.3% from 2021 to 2025. Its growth speed, innovation capacity, lower hukou threshold relative to Beijing and Shanghai, and abundant high-paying jobs have kept it a net importer of talent. Shenzhen’s 2025 GDP was 3.9 trillion yuan, third nationally; it led the country with 295 listed high-tech companies and 424 A-share listed firms. Shenzhen and Guangzhou remain each other’s largest talent source: 9.4% of inflows to Shenzhen came from Guangzhou and 8.4% of inflows to Guangzhou came from Shenzhen.
Guangzhou recorded net inflow shares of 1.0%, 0.7%, 1.0%, 0.8% and 0.9% from 2021 to 2025. Its deep industrial base and international hub status provide diverse job opportunities, while its living costs and housing prices are the lowest among the four first-tier cities — Beijing and Shanghai had price-to-income ratios of 28.8 and 31.7 in the first quarter of 2026, against Guangzhou’s 22.8. Guangzhou’s outflow to Pearl River Delta cities reached 40%, higher than Beijing’s outflow to Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei or Shanghai’s to the Yangtze River Delta, underscoring the delta’s internal talent circulation.
The Second-Tier Leaders: Hangzhou and Suzhou Stand Out
Among six tracked key second-tier cities, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Chengdu, Nanjing, Wuhan and Wuxi posted 2025 net talent inflow shares of 1.43%, 0.77%, 0.01%, 0.68%, 0.03% and 0.63% respectively.
Hangzhou remained the leading second-tier city, with net inflow shares of 1.6%, 1.3%, 1.2%, 1.3% and 1.4% from 2021 to 2025. The city’s core strength lies in the high-quality expansion of its digital economy and advanced manufacturing: in 2025, high-tech, equipment-manufacturing and strategic-emerging-industry value added grew 7.5%, 9.4% and 10.0% respectively, all above the overall industrial pace, while the digital-economy core sector grew 9.3% and accounted for 29.5% of GDP. Shanghai was Hangzhou’s largest single talent source. Its “lotus” youth-talent programme — including “settle first, find employment later,” citywide “Qinghe”驿站 for free short-term stays, and the “Qinghe Cloud Recruitment” drive of more than 800 global job fairs offering one million positions — has helped attract more than two million college graduates under age 35 during the 14th Five-Year Plan period.
Suzhou recorded net inflow shares of 0.9%, 1.0%, 0.8%, 0.7% and 0.8% from 2021 to 2025. Its manufacturing base — 160,000 industrial enterprises, 2025 GDP of 2.8 trillion yuan (sixth nationally), industrial output above scale of 4.9 trillion yuan (second nationally, behind only Shenzhen), and more than 18,500 high-tech enterprises — combined with Shanghai-adjacent regional synergies and a zero/low-threshold hukou policy, form a “high industrial ladder, credible policy implementation, affordable living, large development space” attraction loop. In 2025, Suzhou attracted and retained 283,000 college graduates.
Chengdu returned to positive net inflows in the past two years, with 2025 at +0.01% after −0.04%, −0.55%, −0.25% and +0.03% from 2021 to 2024. Chongqing was its largest talent source at 8.5%, a function of the Chengdu-Chongqing dual-city economic circle. Chengdu ranked fourth nationally in digital cultural-creative city indicators, with high-tech manufacturing output up 8.9% in 2025 and output of new-energy vehicles, lithium-ion batteries and integrated circuits rising 181.0%, 33.9% and 23.3%; its “Rongpiao” youth-talent驿站 have drawn more than 2.67 million young talents during the 14th Five-Year Plan period.
Nanjing’s net inflow share has eased from 0.88% in 2021 to 0.68% in 2025, supported by rapid high-tech industry growth, the “Ningju Plan” and a dense university base — 53 regular universities. Wuhan’s net inflow has slowed from 0.5% in 2021 to near zero in 2025, though it remains positive, anchored by its “five valleys” (Optics, Auto, Star, Net and Pharma), more than 17,000 high-tech enterprises and the “Million College Students Staying in Wuhan” initiative. Wuxi has kept net inflows stable at 0.5%–0.6% thanks to its “465” modern industrial cluster system and two signature industries — integrated circuits and internet of things — backed by the provincial-leading number of provincial smart factories and four global “lighthouse” factories, drawing 523,000 university graduates over five years.
What the Ranking Signals for Investors and Policymakers
The 2026 ranking reinforces a durable structural trend: China’s talent is concentrating in a small number of high-capacity urban engines, above all in the Yangtze and Pearl River Deltas. The data also reveal a bifurcation beneath the stability at the top. First-tier cities are recovering as net talent importers after several years of moderating inflows, while second-tier cities are no longer uniformly gaining — Hangzhou and Suzhou are widening their lead over peers, and cities such as Nanjing and Wuhan are seeing their net inflow edge flatten.
For businesses and investors, the practical implication is that the war for skilled labour is increasingly a regional-cluster competition rather than a city-by-city contest. Workforce availability, wage costs and livability are being repriced together: cities that combine strong advanced-manufacturing and digital-industry bases with affordable housing and proactive talent settlement — Hangzhou, Suzhou and Wuxi among them — are gaining share in the contest for young, high-skilled mobile professionals. Beijing and Shanghai retain unmatched draw for elite talent, but their demographic and labour-market footprints are shaped as much by deliberate population and hukou policy as by market forces.
The report’s authors caution that the findings are subject to sample bias and that resume submissions are an imperfect proxy for actual relocation. Even so, the directional signal is consistent and strengthening: in an era of demographic headwinds, a city’s ability to attract and retain mobile, educated workers has become a central variable in its long-term economic competitiveness — and in the investment case for the companies that locate there.