?WhereToHQ

Ranked · Pick an HQ · Washington

Best cities to put your HQ in Washington

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.Spokane, WA230k residents

    63/100

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

  2. 2.Camas, WA27k residents

    61/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 54.8% · avg. weekly wage: $1,451/wk · corporate income tax: 0%

  3. 3.Pullman, WA32k residents

    60/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 61.4% · avg. weekly wage: $1,317/wk · corporate income tax: 0%

  4. 4.Seattle, WA754k residents

    59/100

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

  5. 5.Olympia, WA56k residents

    58/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 51.8% · avg. weekly wage: $1,465/wk · corporate income tax: 0%

  6. 6.Vancouver, WA195k residents

    57/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 32.3% · avg. weekly wage: $1,451/wk · corporate income tax: 0%

  7. 7.Tacoma, WA223k residents

    56/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 34.5% · avg. weekly wage: $1,423/wk · corporate income tax: 0%

  8. 8.Bothell, WA50k residents

    56/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 59.8% · avg. weekly wage: $1,621/wk · corporate income tax: 0%

  9. 9.Edmonds, WA43k residents

    56/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 54% · avg. weekly wage: $1,621/wk · corporate income tax: 0%

  10. 10.University Place, WA35k residents

    56/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 42.1% · avg. weekly wage: $1,423/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 Washington?
Spokane, WA ranks first with a fit score of 63/100, followed by Camas (61) and Pullman (60), 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.