COLLEGE PARK — Last month Amazon announced it is looking for a home for a second headquarters. The announcement sparked a competitive race between cities across North America, each hoping to score the opportunity for, as the announcement boasted, “as many as 50,000 high-paying jobs.”
Today is the last day for cities to submit proposals. Several cities have entered the race, including large metropolitan areas like Atlanta, Chicago, Denver and Washington, D.C.
Using Amazon’s list of “key preferences and decision drivers” as inspiration, the CNS social team developed 10 different ranking factors, and a corresponding point system, to determine which city would be the best match.
FACTORS:
– Population of the city and surrounding metro area, according to 2016 U.S. Census Bureau data;
– Number of passenger miles traveled on a major form of city public transportation in 2014, according to data from the American Public Transportation Association;
– Number of followers on the city’s mayor’s Twitter account;
– Quality of life, according to rankings from the U.S. News & World Report;
– Number of international airports within a 45-minute radius of each city;
– Number of public universities within a 30-mile radius of each city, according to College Simply;
– Sustainability ranking, according to the Arcadis 2016 Sustainable Cities Index;
– Median household income for each city, according to U.S. Census Bureau data from 2011 to 2015;
– Number of tourists who visited the city in 2016, according to data from tourism websites — Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, and Washington, D.C. — for each city;
– Number of “Things to Do” in each city on TripAdvisor.
POINTS SYSTEM:
For each of the 10 factors listed above, the “winning” city in the category got 10 points, the second-place city got 7.5 points, the third-place city got 5 points and the fourth-place city got 2.5 points. In order to “win” the category, a city must have had the highest ranking or value related to each factor.
Based on our super-scientific analysis, Washington, D.C., would be the best match for the new Amazon headquarters. Widespread educational opportunities, transportation accessibility and sustainability factors pushed the District ahead of its opponents.
The company plans to make a final decision about the new location for the headquarters in 2018, according to the proposal document.
Vote in our Twitter poll to share your thoughts!
Which city would be your pick for the new @amazon headquarters?
— Capital News Service (@CNSmd) October 19, 2017
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