Three locations in Washington, D.C. have been shortlisted for Amazon's second headquarters – we can now make some bold predictions!

I just saw the news that the shortlist of 20 candidates for Amazon's second headquarters has been released.Source: CNNThey were selected from 238 cities, and the list was not too surprising, containing all the cities we had previously guessed.

The list of cities includes (in alphabetical order): Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Columbus, Ohio, Dallas, Denver, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, and Miami.Montgomery County, MarylandNashville, Newark, New York CityNorthern VirginiaPhiladelphia, Pittsburgh, Toronto andWashington, D.C.

Although it only includes 20 cities, the list is quite broad, and each city is highly competitive. However, we can analyze the possibilities a bit. There are many factors to consider when choosing a second headquarters, but I think the main factors are as follows:

1. Nearby student population and accommodation:
   • Boston has a large number of universities, which is a big plus.
   • Pittsburgh having CMU is a big plus.
2. Land price:
   • Washington, D.C. is very small and land is expensive, making it unsuitable for building a headquarters. It would be better to build it in nearby Maryland or Northern Virginia.
   • The situation in New York City is similar to that in Washington, D.C., or even worse. Building it in New York City would be less desirable than placing it in Newark or Philadelphia, so the likelihood is not high.
3. Climate and Environment:
   • Winters in Boston and Toronto are very cold and snowy, making transportation (roads and airplanes) very inconvenient. The proportion of people working from home will be very high. However, due to Boston's advantages in student quality and MIT's strong alumni network, Boston is still a strong contender.
4. Echoing the First Headquarters:
   1. Los Angeles and Seattle are in the same time zone, and as a global deployment, it would be very inefficient to place a second headquarters in the same time zone.

What are the possibilities near Washington?

I think Washington, D.C. is a strong possibility. Montgomery County, Maryland, is a well-known Chinatown, and with a large number of PhDs from the National Institutes of Health and NIST driving growth, it has a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises. Moreover, land prices in Maryland aren't very high, so construction costs wouldn't be a problem. Northern Virginia is another option; Reston and Herndon are home to numerous tech companies, and 30 years ago it was considered a mini-Silicon Valley in the East. Amazon already has two buildings there, so moving its second headquarters there wouldn't require much preparation.

Therefore, besides Washington, D.C., the two nearby locations are still very competitive, with a pleasant climate, reasonable land prices, being in the Eastern Time Zone, and surrounded by six universities (although only the University of Maryland's CS program is particularly strong). Furthermore, the number of IT jobs near Washington is second only to California, attracting many companies working on government projects. Government contracts are quite attractive to Amazon; it remains to be seen how much more appealing building a headquarters would be, given that they already have two buildings.

In my opinion, Pittsburgh, Boston, the Washington, D.C. area, and Newark belong to the first tier. Atlanta, Austin, Columbus, Ohio, Dallas, Denver, Miami, Nashville, and Indianapolis are in the second tier. The others are basically out of the running. However, choosing a headquarters location still depends on the policies and support offered by the local government. After all, with Amazon's influence, building a second headquarters in a city wouldn't be difficult.