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> Why don't businesses shop around for cities more? They do. Amazon's HQ2 search was the most public of these, but other companies are expanding as well. Appl

> Why don't businesses shop around for cities more? They do. Amazon's HQ2 search was the most public of these, but other companies are expanding as well. Apple, without much fanfare, announced a gigantic second campus in Austin, as well as locations in several other cities: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/12/apple-to-build-new-campus-in-austin-and-add-jobs-across-the-us/ https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/12/apple-to-build-new-ca... Last month, Google announced the lease of a 35-story tower in downtown Austin for up to 5,000 employees: https://www.statesman.com/news/20190131/source-google-to-occupy-35-story-office-tower-in-downtown-austin https://www.statesman.com/news/20190131/source-google-to-occ... Facebook announced the lease of a 17-story tower in north Austin last September: https://www.statesman.com/business/20180906/sources-facebook-to-lease-entire-17-story-tower-at-austins-domain/1 https://www.statesman.com/business/20180906/sources-facebook... These are just Austin (since I live in Austin, I'm familiar with these stories) and just 3 big tech companies. Other tech companies are also expanding in other cities. The cost of living has gotten so out of control in the SF Bay Area that these companies can no longer hire and retain good engineers. Also, it took more than 20 years to change this opinion, but companies are finally starting to embrace remote work and remote workers. There's now a popular trend starting too, where founders live in the Bay Area long enough to get a demo off the ground and raise capital, then leave for greener (cheaper) pastures: https://www.axios.com/entrepreneurs-leaving-bay-area-for-next-startup-9206b98e-a583-4fff-ad03-101dba301e09.html https://www.axios.com/entrepreneurs-leaving-bay-area-for-nex... Unless California can un-gridlock its housing, I expect this trend will only continue.

gridlockd 8y ago
> Austin +1
bilbo0s 8y ago
They go to Austin though, because they have to be in Austin. Not because they want to spend that money. Same with NYC and NoVA, you just have to be there, they don't want to make outlays to move to NYC. They'd all prefer to just stay in the Bay Area/Si Valley region if they could. Notice, none of them are moving any important people to places like St Louis, or Omaha, or Little Rock, or wherever. Those places are much less expensive than Austin or NoVA, but the tech companies don't really have to be there.
goobynight 8y ago
This. Silicon valley is leaking, starting with places that have huge amounts of cash and have already hired everyone they can in the Bay. They'll start by offering a few people to transfer with same pay to a way lower cost of living city with a different/better for them lifestyle. Enough will bite and those people will then spin up the new hires.

gridlockd 8y ago

> Austin +1

bilbo0s 8y ago

They go to Austin though, because they have to be in Austin. Not because they want to spend that money. Same with NYC and NoVA, you just have to be there, they don't want to make outlays to move to NYC. They'd all prefer to just stay in the Bay Area/Si Valley region if they could. Notice, none of them are moving any important people to places like St Louis, or Omaha, or Little Rock, or wherever. Those places are much less expensive than Austin or NoVA, but the tech companies don't really have to be there.

goobynight 8y ago

This. Silicon valley is leaking, starting with places that have huge amounts of cash and have already hired everyone they can in the Bay. They'll start by offering a few people to transfer with same pay to a way lower cost of living city with a different/better for them lifestyle. Enough will bite and those people will then spin up the new hires.