Where could Amazon build it's HQ2?
Civic leaders and property developers across the U.S. are describing their cities in flowery terms, hoping to become home to Amazon’s second headquarters. The tech giant last month announced it had received 238 proposals from cities and regions across North America to host the project.
HOW THIS WORKS
The Wall Street Journal used Amazon's criteria, interviews with site-selection experts and people familiar with Amazon's thinking to come up with a list of potential locations for a new corporate center.
The Journal then ranked each city based on factors in the company's request for proposals, using an equally weighted index to average the cumulative scores. The more bars there are in each category of the radar plots, the higher the ranking.
KEY
TECH LABOR FORCEFISCAL HEALTHCOST OF LIVINGCOLLEGE POPULATIONCULTURE FITSTATE TAX RANK
SEATTLE
Ranks one of
the best
in
Better
FISCAL HEALTH
KEY
near the middle
Ranks
in
Worse
COST OF LIVING
CULTURE FIT
Scores the
best possible.
BEST OVERALL
The checklist of qualifications for Amazon's new headquarters is long. First and foremost, it needs to have a location ready to go by 2019. But the company is also factoring in things like cultural fit, the cost of living and the favorability of the state tax climate for business. Dallas, Boston and Washington, D.C. have the strongest characteristics for a second headquarters.
DALLAS
BOSTON
D.C.
Boston boasts a great sports-bar
scene (10 professional-sports titles
since 2000 will do that), and a mil-
lennial population that has grown
about 9% since 2012.
Texas has no state-
income tax, and that helps
the tax rank for Dallas.
MOST SEATTLE-LIKE
Amazon has called the Seattle area home since the company was founded in Chief Executive Jeff Bezos' garage in 1994. The online retail giant's rapid growth there has meant rising property prices and more traffic, but has helped transform the city into a tech hub. These cities most closely match Seattle's attributes.
DENVER
CHICAGO
ATLANTA
Denver has a strong cultural fit, with the most craft breweries per capita among these cities.
Median home prices around $190K help Atlanta's cost-of-living score.
MOST TECH TALENT
One of the most important factors in the search for a new headquarters is ensuring enough tech talent to keep Amazon growing. The company plans to add 50,000 employees there over 10 to 15 years, including many software developers, and that will require enough trained people in the area. Here are some cities that score well on talent.
D.C.
CHICAGO
NEW YORK
Top universities such as Northwestern and the University of Chicago feed into the Chicago metro area.
Why does New York have such a large tech labor force? Because 8.5 million people live in the city.
LONG SHOTS
Despite singular attributes, the sum of these cities’ rankings make them unlikely candidates.
MINNEAPOLIS
NEWARK*
AUSTIN
Austin is home to Whole Foods, which Amazon purchased in August.
The state of New Jersey and the city have promised a potential $7 billion in incentives if Newark is picked.
Minneapolis has the most Fortune 500 companies per capita.
COMPLETE LISTING
The Wall Street Journal ordered the following cities by creating an aggregate rank across the six categories provided by Green Street. The rankings don't reflect many potential variables, such as the level of tax incentives being offered by the state involved.