Why Austin Should Host Amazon HQ2
In our previous blog post, we highlighted the reasons why Amazon HQ2 should not host its new headquarters in Austin. In this post, we will be discussing five reasons they should locate here.
Since September 2017, Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, has been searching for the perfect North American city to host its new headquarters. Dubbed “Amazon HQ2” this new corporate campus would represent an immense investment in the host city, and would mean new high-paying jobs and stimulus to the local economy. On January 18, 2018, Austin, Texas was one of twenty shortlisted cities to make the cut as a finalist in Amazon’s consideration. Other Amazon HQ2 finalists include areas around Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Washington DC, and Toronto. With other tech giants like Apple, Google, and Dell holding a large presence in the city, Austin seems like a natural choice for Amazon’s second headquarters. Read on to learn why we think Austin should play host to Amazon HQ2!
Our Talent
Austin is home to the flagship campus of the University of Texas, one of the top-ranked universities in the country. In fact, the University is so central to the city that Longhorn football serves as the city’s substitute for professional sports. Moreover, the highly talented students of Texas A&M and Rice Universities are within a few hours’ drive of the Texas capital. All three of these boast talented crops of graduates, or as Amazon sees them, future employees. The accelerating growth of Amazon has raised its demand for educated and young employees. Positioning Amazon HQ2 close to so many Universities would allow them to draw on the young talent pool in the Austin area.
Our Culture
Austin is the cultural capital of Texas. With Austin City Limits, South by Southwest, and the Pecan St. Festival, there’s always something to do in the city. Informally dubbed the “Live Music Capital of the World”, Austin boasts a vibrant, youthful culture that, to Amazon HQ2 employees, resembles the company’s current home of Seattle. Amazon employees in Seattle are proud to boast about the city in which they live, and this is a stated goal of the company in the search for a new host city. Activities such as running around Lady Bird Lake and visiting the bats at the Congress Avenue Bridge are appealing to the typically young employees that Amazon seeks out. And none of this even touches on the outstanding food available to Austinites, like Torchy’s Tacos and world-famous Franklin Barbecue.
No Income Tax
Texas is one of the 7 states that does not levy a state income tax on its citizens. The only other state without an income tax on the finalist list is Florida. As such, if Amazon HQ2 were located in Austin (or Dallas or Miami), the company could effectively pay lower wages to its workers while still remaining competitive as an employer. It’s worth noting that Washington is another state that doesn’t collect income tax, so employees at the existing Amazon headquarters don’t pay income tax either. Amazon knows just how beneficial its location in Seattle is, and will likely seek to replicate aspects like a zero income tax in its selection of a home for Amazon HQ2.
Supporting Industries
There’s a reason why Silicon Valley has long been the home of the world’s most innovative computer and microprocessor companies. While HP started in a garage in Palo Alto, later computer companies and organizations in similar industries grew up around the area as a result of the benefits they derive from collocating with HP, Intel, Apple, and others. With high-tech heavyweights like Dell, Apple, Samsung, Google, and others having large presences in Austin, Amazon could benefit from specialized supporting industries that already exist for those companies. This is an additional similarity to Seattle, which is home to high-tech giants like Microsoft, Redfin, Payscale, and Zillow.
Additionally, energy and telecommunications are particular strengths of Austin. Austin Energy is the most reliable municipal utility company in the United States. While Austin residents love to hate Spectrum Cable (Formerly Time Warner), the city is also one of only a handful nationally that are currently installing the revolutionary Google Fiber system which will render traditional cable entirely obsolete. For an always-on internet company like Amazon, the reliability of these utilities is a compelling reason to choose Austin as their new headquarters.
Our Weather
This is a factor in which Austin sets itself apart from Amazon’s original home in Seattle. Where Seattle is famously rainy, Austin is sunny throughout the year. While Seattle is coastal and therefore doesn’t get as cold as areas further inland, it hardly competes with Austin winters that often call for a light sweater at most. On the other hand, summers are swelteringly hot but are not humid in the way that coastal cities on the list like Miami and Washington, DC area. If the company’s executives are looking to get a little bit more sunlight in the year, they would do well to put Austin at the top of the list for Amazon HQ2.
Let us know if you’re for or against Amazon hosting its new headquarters in Austin?
This is very true Brad!