Amazon declares New York and Virginia as location for HQ2

Online retailer, Amazon chooses Long Island, New York, and National Landing in Arlington, Virginia as the newest location for their second and third head quarters, as reported by the Wall Street Journal this past Monday.

The online retail giant announced in a press release on Tuesday, that the company will invest $5 billion dollars in the two new locations. Each location will reach 4 million square feet, and the development of these two new head quarters are predicted to create 50,000 jobs for the individual cities.

Workers in both locations are projected to make an average of $150,000 annually. This average salary is $126,000 more than the average tech salary in New York.

Both locations are expected to elevate the competitive field of the tech industry. New York is home to the headquarters of Google, Facebook, and Uber. Virginias tech job market is expected to become more competitive, the average pay for tech workers in Virginia is significantly lower than the wages Amazon has promised. Although, the pool of qualified tech applicants is sparse.

While this may seem like an exciting development for both cities, residents in both Virginia and New York are concerned that the multi billion dollar company will be receiving a significant tax break.

Newly elected congress woman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, tweeted in response to the news: