The Amazon finalists are already building tech economies. Which are the best?

In the race to land Amazon.com’s second headquarters and its 50,000 jobs, experts say that writing a big subsidy check to the company probably won’t tip the scales.

Instead, what curries favor with Amazon and other tech firms are long-term commitments to education, innovation and livability. These steps come with an added bonus: They are likely to benefit their communities regardless of whether Amazon or another tech giant makes its home there.

All 20 finalists for HQ2, as Amazon calls it, have a common interest in university research, science education and accessible neighborhoods.

“These are not the most incentive-aggressive places in the country,” said Joseph Parilla, a Brookings Institution fellow. “They are the places that have the best public and private assets in addition to education and innovation.”

To see which of these metropolitan areas are building truly competitive tech economies, The Washington Post compiled an index of the places competing for Amazon.com based on metrics from Brookings and other analysts.

What we found is that all of them fare better than most other cities in the country, but fall well short of Silicon Valley jurisdictions — a sign of how far Northern California has distanced itself from the rest of the country in such measures as producing computer science degrees and securing patents.

Three best cities for tech economies: Austin, Boston and Raleigh.

Parilla says the cities that fare best on these metrics will probably add tech jobs long into the future regardless of Amazon’s decision. Even the cities near the bottom of the index are already outperforming the rest of the country and are likely to enjoy future growth because of it.

Three worst cities for tech economies: Columbus, Ohio, Philadelphia and Miami.

“Sustained investment and collaboration across the public, private, educational and civic sectors — that’s the really hard work, and it can’t be done in a six-month application cycle when a company drops a potential investment at your feet,” Parilla said. “It has to be built up over decades. You can actually make the types of investments in innovation and collaboration that will benefit your community — and by the way they are things that Amazon and other companies like, too.”

More than any other indicator, what distinguishes cities on Amazon’s final list from other areas is a deep pool of talented workers. Software development engineers, in particular, are at a premium in the American workforce, and other than Seattle and Silicon Valley, America’s best cities at attracting or producing them are all on Amazon’s list.

It isn’t just programmers that tech firms need, but accountants, architects, managers and consultants. This metric from 2015 measures jobs in these high-value, high-paying industries, mostly accessible to workers with four-year degrees. In the District, that means government contractors. In Raleigh, it means academic researchers.

Filing for a patent is a tangible indicator of a new idea, something that local universities often accelerate. Those wondering how Austin and Raleigh made Amazon’s list can see why here.

This measurement from the U.S. Census Bureau shows how well a region can start and grow companies, which are big job creators.

Because every company needs to be on the Internet, digital services companies are a fast-growing part of the economy, and growth is beginning to happen outside of Silicon Valley. Indianapolis is seeing a boost related to the growth of Salesforce.com there.

Education is important — it sounds obvious. But some areas consistently produce more college graduates and have been expanding their pools of workers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.

The share of young people in a city who are enrolled in college has long been an important indicator for companies. Boston pitched Amazon on its 75 colleges and universities in the region.

Today everyone from Stephen Colbert to Ivanka Trump embraces STEM education, but the cities with the strongest scores on this list have been focused on attracting STEM talent for years.

These are the girders of the economy — the housing stock, transportation systems and financial prudence that enable industry to flourish. Quality-of-life estimates are more subjective but informed by income and cost-of-living data. Would talent from Seattle or Silicon Valley be more willing to relocate to Dallas or D.C.?

This measures how expensive cities are to live in compared with how much money people are making. The District and Boston are among the priciest places to find a home, but there are more transportation options, so some residents can afford not to own cars, and people make more money. In Miami, not so much.

Which cities are most attractive to workers? It differs for everyone, but this metric measures amenities and assets including weather, food, crime and cultural institutions.

Cities or states that are hampered by heavy debt payments may not be in a position to fund infrastructure improvements that Amazon’s growth could require. Here, analysts assess state bond ratings. Not a great look for Illinois and Pennsylvania.

We combined each of these factors to create an overall index comparing the finalist cities. Austin, Boston and Raleigh fared well on almost every metric. Others have one area or another to work on: Denver and Indianapolis for their share of college students, Nashville for patents. Parilla said even the laggards on this list — Miami, Philadelphia and Columbus — are poised for growth.

“I kind of came away saying that there are more midsized places that are really emerging in this space,” he said. Which means that Amazon — and other tech firms — will probably come back to this list again, and not for the subsidies.

About this story

To rank cities’ tech development levels, The Post used data from a Brookings analysis of Moody’s Analytics data, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development , the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Center for Neighborhood Technology and researcher David Albouy. Photos by the Associated Press; Andrea Sachs, Jabin Botsford and Linda Davidson/The Washington Post; and Charles Ommanney for The Washington Post.

By Darla Cameron and Jonathan O'Connell