?WhereToHQ

Ranked · Pick an HQ · New York

Best cities to put your HQ in New York

Cities of 25,000+ residents, scored with the “Pick an HQ” weighting the live tool uses, heaviest on bachelor's degree or higher, avg. weekly wage, corporate income tax, state & local income tax. Scores are relative to this set; open the tool to change the weights and re-rank.

Re-rank for your priorities
Top 10 · computed ranking

  1. 1.Brighton, NY37k residents

    76/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 68.6% · avg. weekly wage: $1,922/wk · corporate income tax: 7.25%

  2. 2.Buffalo, NY277k residents

    74/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 31.2% · avg. weekly wage: $1,346/wk · corporate income tax: 7.25%

  3. 3.Albany, NY100k residents

    71/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 45.3% · avg. weekly wage: $1,649/wk · corporate income tax: 7.25%

  4. 4.Rochester, NY209k residents

    70/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 30% · avg. weekly wage: $1,328/wk · corporate income tax: 7.25%

  5. 5.Syracuse, NY146k residents

    70/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 31.2% · avg. weekly wage: $1,409/wk · corporate income tax: 7.25%

  6. 6.Troy, NY51k residents

    70/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 37.3% · avg. weekly wage: $1,429/wk · corporate income tax: 7.25%

  7. 7.Saratoga Springs, NY29k residents

    70/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 59.9% · avg. weekly wage: $1,330/wk · corporate income tax: 7.25%

  8. 8.Long Beach, NY35k residents

    69/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 55.8% · avg. weekly wage: $1,534/wk · corporate income tax: 7.25%

  9. 9.North Tonawanda, NY30k residents

    69/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 27.1% · avg. weekly wage: $1,127/wk · corporate income tax: 7.25%

  10. 10.Tonawanda Town, NY57k residents

    68/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 39.4% · avg. weekly wage: $1,922/wk · corporate income tax: 7.25%

Methodology: each city is scored 0–100 by min–max normalizing every weighted facet across this candidate set (direction-aware), identical math to the tool's “Best fit” tab. A different weighting produces a different order, which is the point: this is a starting shortlist, not a verdict.

Questions & answers
Which city is best to put your HQ in New York?
Brighton, NY ranks first with a fit score of 76/100, followed by Buffalo (74) and Albany (71), using the "Pick an HQ" weighting.
How is this ranking calculated?
Each of the 10 candidate cities (25,000+ residents) is scored 0 to 100 by min-max normalizing the weighted facets, heaviest on bachelor's degree or higher, avg. weekly wage, corporate income tax, state & local income tax, across this set. Change the weights in the live tool and the order changes with them.