One article said average pay would be over $100K/yr.
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Is the 100k number comes from the current average pay in Amazon? Amazon may not give a forecast of average for its new HQ, so the journalist could just use the current average pay as the projection.
But it’s likely that HQ average pay is over 100k since the executives most likely move there to save on business tax. Could be a lot of management positions instead of many engineers.
I guess Austin is the most promising due to Whole Food aquisition. Raleigh and Denver may have a shot as well. Salt Lake City can also have a chance but its politicians are not aggressive
Oakland is out… 
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By my tally, the options are: Toronto, Boston, Washington, Atlanta, Dallas or Denver.
This is my question. It has a huge impact on the type of property I’d want.
Could the others in the FANG/tech of the bay area follow suit? That would put a stop to RE price increases here doesnt it? Why is Amazon thinking out of the box instead of expanding around Seattle.
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Amazon is different. It has more things than tech. It owns whole foods now. With warehouses, Amazon is company between virtual and physical. BA tech companies are mostly virtual.
They use Seatle as tech HQ and another city as business HQ to save taxes
Sure, anything is possible, but if anything the Big Boys here are doubling down on the region (Bay Area). I mean, isn’t Google going to build in San Jose? Isn’t Facebook building housing in Menlo Park? Apple obviously just finished the Space Ship.
Shoot, we don’t need you like other places do, Jeff… (but come anyway…)
Not entirely true, they say they need software developement skills in the new metro. So not the business HQ or whole foods kind of operation.
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If AMZN is looking for no corporate tax, only Washington 
Guess cities that want to fight for HQ2 have to offer zero corporate tax forever???
Oh, Austin airport is too small. Which country does it go to?
The RFP also says that “travel time to an international airport with daily direct flights to Seattle, New York, San Francisco/Bay Area, and Washington, D.C.” — suggesting that Amazon has already ruled out those last three cities.
Which big cities have daily direct flights to those areas?
Austin would be a no-brainer, considering that the city is home to the headquarters of one of Amazon’s most-talked-about acquisitions: Whole Foods. It’s a city that a number of other tech giants have hedged their bets on — it’s home to Apple’s largest research and development office outside of its Cupertino headquarters, while Facebook opened its first sales and online operations office outside of Palo Alto there in 2010. Additionally, Amazon would have close proximity to the University of Texas at Austin, which has a highly-ranked engineering school.
How shortsighted can a politician get? Fire him!
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Nevada, Ohio, Washington, and and Texas tax gross receipts not business income.
That list of 5 matches my list pretty closely.
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Ladies and Gentlemen, the BIG DOG is in the house:
“On the face of it, some of their requirements are a direct hit with what San Jose has to offer, in terms of technical talent” and major roadways, said Deputy City Manager Kim Walesh. “We are very serious about responding to” the request for proposals.
Among Amazon’s requirements: a city that is at least 45 minutes from a large international airport; has access to mass transit; and is near a “population center.” It will give preference to cities that have the potential to attract and retain strong technical talent, and that have a “stable and business-friendly environment.”
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The Bay Area WILL NOT be ignored!!!
I still think SJ would be a long shot. Ro Khanna seems against it. The moron things investing $5B in construction and employing 50,000 people isn’t enough “investment” from the company. He’s the type of idiot that’d expect the company to fund HSR too. I have no idea how he won when he skipped every critical city council vote.
How long will it take for Amazon to choose a location? 6 months? 1 year?
And how long will it take to get planning approved then get construction done? 2 years or 5 years?
So it could take 3 to 6 years before Amazon has its 2nd HQ up and running. Is this estimate pessimistic or optimistic?
Decision will be made in 2018. Projections are 2023 for the full HQ2 to be completed.