Dallas is best place for Amazon’s second headquarters, Wall Street Journal says

Amazon's Doppler Tower was the company's first downtown Seattle headquarters campus high-rise.

Anthony Bolante | PSBJ

Dallas is the best place in North America for Amazon’s new headquarters, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis released Friday that cites North Texas’ large tech workforce as the main draw. Show Full Story

Dallas beat out the other 20 metro areas that Seattle-based Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) announced last week as finalists for its second headquarters, the Journal reported.

“A large tech labor force, and middle-of-the-road ranks for nearly everything else, places Dallas at the top of our ranking,” the publication said.

The Journal based its criteria on what Amazon has said it wants, including a metro area with more than a million people, a stable and business-friendly environment and a location where it can attract and keep tech talent.

The prize is a $5 billion facility that will provide 50,000 jobs paying six figures and up — plus billions of dollars in additional investment in the surrounding community over the next 10 to 15 years.

Everyone from the Wall Street Journal to gambling websites and fine dining magazines are weighing in on where Amazon will land. The guessing game has taken on new life now that the e-commerce gargantuan has narrowed its list to 20.

It’s unknown how long the decision will take for Amazon to make or whether there will be another round of cuts before the winner is named. Amazon has said only that a location will be announced this year.

Dallas and the state of Texas have not said publicly what they are offering Amazon in incentives to come. Dallas and Austin are both on Amazon’s short list.

In the Wall Street Journal’s latest ranking, Dallas and three locations near Washington D.C. made Amazon's "first tier," followed by "second tier" cities Atlanta, Miami and Boston.

In a prior lineup published in November, the publication put Dallas atop the list, followed by Boston, Atlanta and a tie between Washington D.C. and Seattle.