AMAZON’S

SEARCH FOR HQ2

20 cities made the list but only one will win the $5 billion prize

SEATTLE
Washington

TORONTO
Ontario,
Canada

BOSTON
Massachusetts

NEW YORK CITY

NEWARK New York
New Jersey
PITTSBURGH PHILADELPHIA
CHICAGO Pennsylvania Pennsylvania
Illinois MONTGOMERY COUNTY
Maryland
COLUMBUS WASHINGTON, D.C.
DENVER Ohio
INDIANAPOLIS NORTHERN VIRGINIA
Colorado Indiana

RALEIGH
North Carolina
NASHVILLE
Tennessee
LOS ANGELES
California
ATLANTA
Georgia

ARE YOU A BETTIN’ MAN? DALLAS

Texas
A day after Amazon released its short list, Irish betting site Paddy Power WASHINGTON, D.C./
issued a new set of odds. Here they are, in order of chances, as of Jan. 24.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY/
2-to-1 Boston (best odds) AUSTIN NORTHERN VIRGINIA
Texas
Population (2016): 6,011,752
5-to-1 Atlanta
Median age: 36.5 years
8-to-1 Washington, D.C.
Adults with bachelor’s degrees: 49.4%
MIAMI
10-to-1 Pittsburgh
Florida
Households with incomes of $150,000 or more: 26.9%
Commute in 14 minutes or less: 14.2%
11-to-1 Philadelphia
NOTE: The D.C./Montgomery County/Northern Virginia region represents the
11-to-2 Austin, Texas same demographic area in the U.S. Census Bureau statistics, but they are listed as
three separate bids in Amazon’s HQ2 selection process.
12-to-1
21.4%
Montgomery County
HQ2 WILL BE HERE BECAUSE ... not only does the
14-to-1 New York City D.C. area keep Amazon close to lawmakers in the
Northern Virginia Total office nation’s capital and host the highest concentration of
16-to-1 Toronto office space space educated residents, the region can check off several
vacancy rate
16-to-1 Chicago inventory: boxes on the HQ2 wish list. Montgomery County has
130.1 million an abundance of top-tier tech talent. Northern Virginia
16-to-1 Denver square feet has a deep line into the data center and tech sectors.
16-to-1 Newark, New Jersey
17.9% And D.C. itself has a highly diverse workforce and well-
established transportation system. And the kicker?
20-to-1
12.3%
Northern Virginia Total office Montgomery County Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has a home there.
space office space
20-to-1 Raleigh, North Carolina vacancy rate HQ2 WON’T BE HERE BECAUSE ... D.C.’s tax rate
inventory:
Washington, D.C. Total office is not as friendly as other areas on Amazon’s list. Its
43.1 million
20-to-1 Miami
square feet office space space transportation system has struggles, and the region
vacancy rate
inventory: ranks last among finalists with the lowest percentage
20-to-1 Dallas
108.4 million of daily commutes that take 14 minutes or less.
20-to-1 Los Angeles square feet SOURCE FOR ALL DATA: ACBJ ANALYSIS OF FIVE-YEAR VERSION OF
U.S. CENSUS BUREAU’S 2016 AMERICAN COMMUNITY SURVEY. THE
20-to-1 Nashville, Tennessee DIVERSITY INDEX INDICATES THE LIKELIHOOD THAT TWO RANDOMLY
SELECTED RESIDENTS WOULD BE OF DIFFERENT RACES.

20-to-1 Indianapolis, Indiana