Monday Morning Scoop - Austin Ranked No. 2 in US For New Corporate HQs

Austin Ranked No. 2 in US For New Corporate HQs

Dallas-Fort Worth beat Austin to take the No.1 spot on a new list of metros that have added the most corporate headquarters in recent years.

DFW gained 100 headquarters from 2018 to 2024, according to the report by online publisher Visual Capitalist. Austin ranked second with 81 during that period. Nashville ranked third with 35, followed by Phoenix and Houston with 31 new headquarters apiece in the five-year timeframe.

The biggest loser in the country was the San Francisco Bay area, which saw 156 corporate HQ exits, according to Visual Capitalist, which tallied data from 561 announcements between 2018 to 2024 and cited a report from Dallas-based commercial real estate giant CBRE as a source.

The second-most HQ exits came out of Greater Los Angeles, which lost 106 companies. New York City was third with 27 HQ departures, followed by Chicago with 15 corporate farewells.

Although corporate relocations slowed in 2024 and so far this year, these data points are helpful reminders of Texas’ immense influx of corporate investment and brainpower in the past few years, trends that have transformed the business landscape.

The Visual Capitalist report notes that Texas is home to three of the top five headquarter markets nationally.

“Fueling this migration are its growing talent pool, the absence of corporate and personal income tax, and its lack of red tape,” the report says. “The state is notable in its diverse business landscape attracting Chevron, Charles Schwab, and SpaceX to relocate headquarters since 2018.”

By: Bill Hethcock
Source: Austin Business Journal