Kuala Lumpur indexes 76/100 on the Class A Atlas talent index, with deep banking, islamic finance, oil and gas, and shared-services talent.

• Talent index: 76/100 (NYC = 100 baseline).
• Corporate tax: 24%.
• Talent depth and rent curve are correlated — top talent markets carry top rent.

TL;DR

• Talent index: 76/100 (NYC = 100 baseline).
• Corporate tax: 24%.
• Talent depth and rent curve are correlated — top talent markets carry top rent.

Talent depth

Deep banking, Islamic finance, oil and gas, and shared-services talent. Strong feed from University of Malaya, Universiti Sains Malaysia, and Multimedia University. English fluency is high in international corporate; multilingual (Malay, Mandarin, Tamil) workforce.

Cost-to-locate

Total cost of locating in Kuala Lumpur is the sum of rent, fit-out">fit-out, and salary delta vs. comparable markets. Use the City Comparator tool to benchmark Kuala Lumpur against peer cities on a single normalised view.

Key facts

Frequently asked questions

Is Kuala Lumpur a deep talent market for tech/finance?

Deep banking, Islamic finance, oil and gas, and shared-services talent. Strong feed from University of Malaya, Universiti Sains Malaysia, and Multimedia University. English fluency is high in international corporate; multilingual (Malay, Mandarin, Tamil) workforce.

Editorial provenance

Reviewed by Kenji Watanabe — APAC contributing editor. Last updated 2026-04-15. See our methodology and editorial standards.

Primary sources for this page

• CBRE Marketview reports — CBRE
• JLL Office Insight — JLL
• Cushman & Wakefield Marketbeat — Cushman & Wakefield
• Savills World Research — Savills
• Colliers Global Office Outlook — Colliers

Full sources index · Submit a correction

Related topics

• Workplace Talent Strategy — How office location, building tier, and workplace experience shape talent attraction and retention.