After PROFILEmiami first reported that Miami was a frontrunner for Amazon's now infamous HQ 2, Miami has now made the final cuts as Amazon has named the top 20 finalists. The cities are competing to to secure an expected 50,000 jobs and $5 billion in investment. The finalists are Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Columbus (OH), Dallas, Denver, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Miami, Montgomery County (MD), Nashville, Newark, New York City, Northern Virginia, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Raleigh (NC), Toronto, Washington, D.C. Miami's application was submitted by the economic-development arms of Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties although details of the bid have not been made public.
Jeff Bezos lived in Miami for a period of time during his childhood and has an affinity for South Florida. Miami is an attractive city as it features a high quality of life, strong infrastructure growth, a growing educated workforce, strong job growth, etc. Quality of life has become a major factor when choosing a new headquarter location as both housing cost, livability and amenities play a major roll in a firm's ability to attract top-end talent. Miami has the low pricing when compared with other major cities without sacrificing the quality of life and the city features all of the amenities that highly paid and educated employees seek including top-tier restaurants, recreation and culture. The low cost with a high quality of life in Miami would make it easy for Amazon to attract top-end talent. Some factors that hurt Miami is the lack of public transportation and traffic congestion.
