The competition for talent leads to the mobility of talent resources across regions, resulting in the allocation of talent resources. Through theoretical inference, under a complete market mechanism developed regions face the problem of insufficient talent inflow, while under local subsidy policies developed regions may experience excessive talent inflows. In both cases, a country as a whole experiences deadweight losses. Based on the data of 31 provincial-level regions from 2002 to 2022, the marginal contribution of talent resources in each region and deadweight losses of talent allocation are measured. The results indicate that in recent years, the deadweight losses are not significant and overall efficiency of talent resource allocation has been relatively high. Further, this paper examines the matching of total factor productivity and marginal contribution of talent resources. The results indicate that there are still significant shortages of talent resources in coastal areas, and it is reasonable for talent resources in “negative gap” areas to flow to coastal areas. To coordinate developments of talent regions, it is suggested to use the guiding role of market mechanisms, standardize policy measures for talent competition, and focus on the overall efficiency of talent allocation.