Analysis Puts Dallas' Chances Low for Landing Amazon HQ2
It’s the hottest story for most major cities in the country right now: Where will Amazon decide to build their second headquarters? Cities are courting the corporate giant with high hopes, dazzled by the thought of attracting all the revenue Amazon would bring to their city. But according to a recent analysis by Moody’s Analytics, the chance of Dallas — or any city in North Texas — landing Amazon HQ2 doesn’t look too favorable.
Moody’s rated the chances of the various cities vying to be Amazon’s second headquarters. The Dallas-Fort Worth area rated well for business environment and generous use of business incentives. Dallas finished in the top three in those categories, along with Austin and Nashville.
However, on other quality of life measures, Moody’s ranked other cities far ahead of Dallas. Other measured factors include transportation, cost, quality of life, geography, and human capital. D Magazine pointed out that in Moody’s final analysis, Dallas was no longer among the top 10 cities in the running. Previous studies by other organizations gave great odds for Denver, which didn’t appear in Moody’s analysis at all, the magazine notes.
The magazine also notes that Moody’s made no distinction between the two regions that make up North Texas, lumping in both Dallas-Plano-Irving with Fort Worth-Arlington. The two regions have different factors for each and cannot be considered indistinguishable. However, there would surely be a resurgence of the Dallas versus Fort Worth debates if Amazon decided to locate in North Texas.
Although Moody’s Analytics is a well-respected economic forecasting group, only Amazon will have the final say about where they choose to locate their next headquarters. Dallas ranked well in some other studies, so don’t count the city out just yet.