These 10 cities have the best chance of getting Amazon's $5 billion headquarters, according to the data

pulse

October 18, 2017 2:36 PM

Moody's investment services did the math and came up with the best candidates for Amazon's second headquarters.

It seems that every local official across the US and Canada is trying to lure Amazon to his or her city or town.

To state their case for the company's second headquarters, officials tout their region's benefits, potential tax breaks, and local opportunities. But what does Amazon really want in a potential location? The financial-services arm of Moody's looked at what Amazon may want in a city — both stated and inferred — to come up with a list of the best candidate cities for HQ2.

Moody's looked at five factors: business environment, human capital, cost, quality of life, and transportation. It then assigned a number to each city and a weight to each factor to come up with its list of 10 cities. An additional category, geography, was considered, but was not factored into the rankings. Moody's excluded Seattle, the site of Amazon's current headquarters, from consideration.

Amazon said it would invest $5 billion in the construction of its new headquarters, and it hopes to eventually house 50,000 Amazon staff members there, gradually building up its workforce. The deadline for cities to submit a proposal is Thursday.

Here's where Amazon is most likely to put down roots, according to the data. All quotes are from Moody's.

10. Salt Lake City

9. Boston

8. Portland, Oregon

7. Miami

6. New York City / New Jersey / White Plains, New York

5. Pittsburgh

4. Rochester, New York

3. Philadelphia

"The downsides in Philadelphia are an inefficient tax structure and significant public sector pension problems. The state has its own fiscal problems, including a structural budget deficit. As a result, whether the city and state are able and willing to offer generous enough incentives remains to be seen.

"However, overall the upsides in Philly outweigh the downsides. Amazon would be coming to the city at exactly the right moment: A boom is under way but is not so far along that the city is now expensive."

2. Atlanta

1. Austin, Texas

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