Amazon & Apple Eyeing Raleigh For New Headquarters

West Coast juggernauts Apple and Amazon are still searching for a new East Coast home. This has prompted companies to try and figure out exactly what city they’re going to build their next offices in. It seems like it could be the same city for both companies thanks to a new report from ATTOM Data which puts Raleigh, North Carolina as the front runner for the coveted position of Amazon’s HQ2. Could this move help with the companies employee diversity issues?

The Breakdown You Need to Know

ATTOM Data Solutions which collects information on America’s property markets ranked 19 of the 20 finalist cities based on housing and quality of life. With affordable homes, above-average school scores, below-average crime rates and property taxes Raleigh reigns supreme.

The projected cost for HQ2 sits at more than $5 billion with the possibility to create 50,000 jobs over 10 to 15 years. Amazon stands to gain a lot in terms of diversity if it moves to the area. CultureBanx dug in even deeper into the Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill demographics. The cities which make up the Research Triangle have a combined population that’s 22% black. This number nearly doubles the nations 12% black population and is slightly higher than North Carolina’s overall 21%.

A move to Raleigh could easily up Amazon’s black employee representation which currently sits around 18%. It’s important to note they fold their warehouse and retail staff into the overall employment diversity numbers.

Raleigh is one of the cities where black people thrive in terms of home ownership, and income. Forbes notes 41.3% of blacks in the city are homeowners and the median black household income sits at $49,433.

The e-commerce giant may try to tap into the strong universities in the area. Local companies such as IBM, Cisco and Lenovo usually rake in talent from three neighboring universities: North Carolina State University, Duke University, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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