?WhereToHQ

Ranked · Pick an HQ · United States

Best cities to put your HQ in the US

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.Frisco, TX219k residents

    83/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 67.5% · avg. weekly wage: $1,307/wk · corporate income tax: 0%

  2. 2.Austin, TX980k residents

    82/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 59.6% · avg. weekly wage: $1,588/wk · corporate income tax: 0%

  3. 3.Plano, TX291k residents

    81/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 60.5% · avg. weekly wage: $1,769/wk · corporate income tax: 0%

  4. 4.Seattle, WA754k residents

    80/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 68.4% · avg. weekly wage: $2,630/wk · corporate income tax: 0%

  5. 5.El Paso, TX680k residents

    79/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 28.1% · avg. weekly wage: $991/wk · corporate income tax: 0%

  6. 6.Lubbock, TX265k residents

    79/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 35.1% · avg. weekly wage: $1,088/wk · corporate income tax: 0%

  7. 7.Sioux Falls, SD201k residents

    79/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 38.1% · avg. weekly wage: $1,287/wk · corporate income tax: 0%

  8. 8.Spokane, WA230k residents

    78/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 33.9% · avg. weekly wage: $1,324/wk · corporate income tax: 0%

  9. 9.McKinney, TX211k residents

    78/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 54.1% · avg. weekly wage: $1,769/wk · corporate income tax: 0%

  10. 10.Denton, TX153k residents

    78/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 41.7% · avg. weekly wage: $1,307/wk · corporate income tax: 0%

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 the US?
Frisco, TX ranks first with a fit score of 83/100, followed by Austin (82) and Plano (81), 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.