- City overtakes rivals on strength of digital economy and manufacturing growth
- All 11 Zhejiang prefecture-level cities enter national top-100 ranking
Hangzhou climbed to fourth place in China’s 2026 urban talent attractiveness rankings, its highest position yet, as the city’s digital economy and advanced manufacturing sectors continued to draw skilled workers from across the country.
The rankings, jointly released on May 26 by Zeping Macro Research and Zhaopin.com, a Chinese online recruiting platform, placed Hangzhou behind only Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen among China’s top 100 talent-attracting cities.
Zeping Macro Research is a research team led by Ren Zeping, a prominent Chinese macroeconomist known for predicting major market trends.
Balanced regional competitiveness
The report highlights a broader trend across Zhejiang, with all 11 prefecture-level cities in the province making the national top-100 list, reflecting what the study describes as unusually balanced regional talent competitiveness.
The top 10 cities remained unchanged from the previous year: Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Suzhou, Chengdu, Nanjing, Wuhan and Wuxi. Hangzhou and Suzhou both improved their relative standing within the group.
Hangzhou rose one place from fifth in the chart, while Suzhou also moved up one notch to No. 6.
Researchers attributed Hangzhou’s rise to rapid expansion in digital economy industries such as smart internet-of-things technologies and e-commerce, alongside continued growth in advanced manufacturing and aggressive talent recruitment policies.
According to the report, Hangzhou’s share of national talent inflows remained steady at about 3% between 2021 and 2025, while outflows rose only modestly from 1.4% to 1.6%.
Net talent inflows exceeded 1.2% for five consecutive years, signaling relatively strong retention.
In 2025, the city’s high-tech industries, equipment manufacturing and strategic emerging sectors grew by 7.5%, 9.4% and 10% respectively.
Core digital economy industries expanded 9.3% and accounted for 29.5% of gross domestic product, providing a major driver for employment demand.
Charm offensive
Hangzhou has also introduced a series of youth-focused policies. Since 2022, the city has allowed graduates to obtain residency permits before securing employment and expanded its “Qinghe Inns” (青荷驿站) program, which provides up to one week of free accommodation annually for job-seeking graduates.
Through its “Qinghe Cloud Recruitment” initiative, the city organizes more than 800 global recruitment events online each year and offers around 1 million job opportunities.
During China’s 14th five-year plan period (2021-2025), Hangzhou has attracted more than 2 million university graduates under the age of 35.
Other Zhejiang cities also ranked strongly, including Ningbo at No. 14, Wenzhou at No. 19 and Jiaxing at No. 21.
Zhoushan ranked 35th, supported by what the report described as improving economic vitality, specialized industrial strengths and targeted recruitment policies.
