3 graphs that show how Amazon compares to its sister cities
After many months of speculation, we now know where Amazon is setting up its second headquarters — and its second, second headquarters
The retail giant decided to set up shop in both Long Island City, an area in Queens, New York, and in Crystal City, a neighborhood just a mile south of the Pentagon.
Amazon has said that HQ2 would be a “full equal” to Seattle’s HQ1. That means bringing in 50,000 employees (plus dogs — the company said about 6,000 dogs hang out at their facilities in South Lake Union). Amazon said it plans on splitting those jobs 50-50 between the two sites.
And of course this doesn’t include all the additional jobs that are attracted to the area. In Seattle, an estimated 53,000 jobs were created as a result of Amazon coming to town.
We looked at Census information to see how these new counterparts compare to South Lake Union in terms of housing, income, education and more. We used the three areas' main zip codes, which seems a fairly near comparison geographically.
(For number nerds, Crystal City is 22202 and Long Island City is 11101, respectively. Coincidence?)
Can the new cities handle an influx of new workers?
Crystal City and Long Island City are small areas connected to big hubs: Washington, D.C. and New York City. Those two large cities will likely absorb much of the growth associated with the new headquarters, just like Seattle has.
Population
- South Lake Union: 25,906 (Seattle: 724,764)
- Crystal City: 23,379
- Long Island City: 26,505
Square miles
- South Lake Union (including parts of Queen Anne): 2
- Crystal City: 3.9
- Long Island City: 2.6
People per square mile
- South Lake Union: 12,951
- Crystal City: 6,027
- Long Island City: 10,180
Long Island City is poorer than Seattle – for now
According to last Census estimates, a staggering 21 percent of people in Long Island City live below the poverty line. That's double the rate of Seattle as a whole, 11.1 percent, and Crystal City, 8.2 percent.
Amazon was expected to pay out $25.7 billion in employee compensation to the new headquarters. Now with the HQ2 split, it's unclear what that will actually mean for each city.
The new cities are going to need to find space to house all the newcomers
Affordable housing has been a major source of tension in Seattle, in part due to an inventory issue. The city currently has about 355,000 housing units – 93 percent of which are occupied.
Coupled with a lack of inventory is the sticker shock Seattle homebuyers have been experiencing, even with a recent cooling in the homebuyer market.
Will Amazon bring gentrification to the neighborhood?
Currently both Crystal City and Long Island City are much more diverse neighborhoods than South Lake Union.
Crystal City is more, Long Island City less educated than Seattle
High school graduate or higher
- South Lake Union: 97.4 percent
- Crystal City: 97.6 percent
- Long Island City: 82.9 percent
Bachelor’s degree or higher
- South Lake Union: 73.0 percent
- Crystal City: 85.7 percent
- Long Island City: 42.6 percent
