Where in America Are the Tech Firms Going and Why: An Exploratory Analysis of Site Selection Trends in the Information Technology Sector Based on Incentive Packages from 1980 to 2018

Abstract

This paper tracks the location trends of information technology (IT) firms in the United States for the last 4 decades to identify commonalities in place-based recruitment subsidy policies and strategies. Utilizing the Good Jobs First Subsidy Tracker database, examined are: a) specific subsidy amounts; b) the type of subsidy, based on the different federal, state, and local options and c) the source of the subsidy funds, be it state, local or federal. Using ArcGIS programming, the analysis maps out the spatial clustering for new location deals of 421 IT facilities from 1981 to 2018. The trends in location choice are used to offer a typology of sub-industry relocation classifications, based on NAICS codes. These relocation flows are then evaluated for job creation outcomes. The findings indicate that fairly remote locations seem to consistently have lower number of jobs created at much higher dollar amounts spent per new job, as compared to metro areas. A clear trend of moving away from Silicon Valley emerges, where most new jobs are created in the Northeast and Canada, as a function of the most generous subsidy packages.