We are empty nesters looking at retirement homes and I am watching this closely. We are in Indianapolis suburb and want to either relocate to Zionsville with a ranch home (not sure if this would be temporary or permanent) or looking at the Raleigh/ Durham area. I am bummed because it appears they both are possibilities for Amazon’s new HQ. They have a large distribution center adjacent to ZIonsville and a smaller one about 15 miles south of it. Apparently The Raleigh/ Durham area is possible ranked second by some for the HQ. We will not be ready to move until another couple of years and I am upset that the home prices for the areas we are looking at are going to sky-rocket.
I think Nashville is still in the running and our public transportation is almost non-existent! We also have issues with ice/snow (very occasionally, but a little more than Atlanta) without the infrastucture to deal with it. I don’t think Nashville will be the pick, fortunately.
I agree with @partyof5
Columbus has become a very nice city with lots of upscale shopping and the Ohio State University offers a benefit other cities don’t have. As far as commute time is concerned, the suburbs are pretty close together and they are all very nice. It has what I would call a close suburban feel that I think most closely mimics what Seattle offers.
“Columbus would be a great location. It doesn’t have the mass transit but Ohio has great schools K-12. The housing is VERY AFFORDABLE. You would also have Ohio State, UC and Case Western for recruiting.”
Amazon is, IMO, looking for locations where the car use will be lower if there is a good walkability score and public transportation. Personally, I don’t like to drive in SF or the NorCal/ SV area, but when I need to, I do. Traffic is traffic.
Chicago obviously… ;). It’s a very livable city with great mass transit. Don’t really need a car. You can live outside of downtown and take the train or “El” into the downtown area or wherever they are looking in Chicago to make it more affordable . You have a major tech hub with 1870 and world class universities and schooling. You have the lake and easy import /export. You have Ohare which is a world hub. Great shopping and entertainment and its a world class city. It also has a young vibe. You also have the “need”. Many families “need” jobs in certain sectors of the city. That would be Jeff Bezos greatest accomplishment in my mind.
It’s not as if we northeasterners get superior snow service.
Some employees would be able to telecommute.
I’ll put in a plug for a city I think is great and doesn’t get mentioned on this thread much - Philly! Very affordable relative to other major east coast cities. Great culture, great food scene, major league sports teams, easy access to other major cities, traffic isn’t horrendous compared to other cities. Plenty of people bike, too.
They had an awesome video pitch, too. As a reminder: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8P7kwwVK2c
@doschicos I agree 100% about Philly. For many of the same reasons I cited for Newark. It has the major airport and port, is on the Amtrak NE Corridor line, and has well-established local mass transit. Many, many nice towns in PA, southern NJ and northern DE to commute from. Close to NJ and DE beaches, and 2 hours from Pocono skiing. Also has a ton of elite schools in the city/surrounding area, a nice arts scene and a ton of history
I also found this article- https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-hq2-could-go-to-virginia-evidence-2018-3
I think Northern Virginia site is the most likely- Data Center Alley, or, as one author described it, the “bull’s-eye of America’s internet.”. They are already building there, they have acquired large acreage, and the article indicates it is close to Dulles Airport. And then there is this article about Amazon job posting here- https://patch.com/virginia/delray/new-dc-area-amazon-job-listing-creates-hq2-buzz.
Everyone is offering tax breaks to Amazon and development of infrastructure. I think what might tip the balance is proximity to airport and to Jeff Bezos.
Philly has an extra tax for people who live in the city. That would need to be taken into consideration.
Given it’s much cheaper than cities like Boston, DC, NYC, etc. I’d argue they still come out ahead. NYC has a city tax, too. Plenty of people still choose to live there. Besides, taxes in both cities apply to people who work there as well, not just live there.
Never said anything about the other cities. Just mentioning that the city wage tax in Philly would/should be considered as part of the overall decision. IIRC cities like NY don’t have the wage tax if you work but don’t live in the city, or it’s pretty low (this is from memory).Philly has an almost 4%wage tax regardless of whether you live in or out of the city. SF’s city tax is only around 1%, for comparison.
“IIRC cities like NY don’t have the wage tax if you work but don’t live in the city, or it’s pretty low”
It’s 3-4%.
Correction: If you don’t live in NYC, you don’t pay the city tax unless you are a government employee. If you live in NJ or CT for example, you would still pay NYS tax.
San Fran’s city wage tax might be lower but you could rent a whole apartment in Philly for the price of a closet in SF. 
Yes your correction is what I thought and what I said. I was pretty sure if you don’t live in NYC you pay little if any CITY wage tax. The SF example was to indicate that in comparison, Philly’s city wage tax is high whether you live in the city or not. So wages would or should take this into consideration. This is separate from the $$$$$$$$$ housing cost issues. Trust me, I know!
@doschicos , as someone who went to university, got married, raised a family in public schools and work in Philly it is a great place to live. You can survive with no car. Or one car, like us;) We have a lot of friends in the same situation. Plenty to do here with sports, arts, food, higher education, etc. Housing in the City is still affordable. If you don’t want to raise your children in the City there are plenty of very livable suburban and inner ring towns on the train line.
The wage tax is real, though it is coming down incrementally. I don’t expect it to ever go away. But, even after doubling, our property taxes are very affordable. It’s a choice we make.
In many neighborhoods in Philly, you can even readily find street parking for you car. Can’t say that about many major cities these days. But, yes, easy to get around biking, walking, public transportation, etc. I view it as a very livable urban area.
We live in a traditional row home and parallel park on the street. (not always on our block, though. And rarely after 8pm, then it is walk or Urber;)
Yes, Philly is a great city. DS#1 almost took a job there. That’s when the city tax issue came up, which is the only reason I was familiar with it and mentioned it here as not all cities have it, especially for non residents of the city. Nothing wrong at all with Philly or environs. Was simply pointing out the tax!!
Where DS#1 lives, in a neighborhood of a large city, he’s lived in 2 different neighborhoods and in both they have been able to park on the street. They do need to move the cars due to street sweepers (there’s something I haven’t seen in our city) and the steep streets are a challenge to park on. Now very familiar with the “up, up and away” way of remembering which way to turn the steering wheel/tires.
Wow. So when you come home with many bags of groceries?
Man, when are they ever going to announce this? In four weeks, it will have been a full 12 months since they started taking proposals and 9 full months since they announced the 20 finalists…and since then – crickets! From what I can tell, literally no city has heard anything. Dead silence. Truly odd.