That's either wishful thinking or cray-cray. Flip it around: if I got a job in Greenbelt MD, Crystal City VA isn't even in my Top 10 places I'd look. Why is it that all anyone could talk about for months was how there was no way - NO WAY! - Amazon would ever choose a "gun-loving, gay-bashing, Confederate state like Virginia." They swore up & down that gravy train had one stop, and one stop alone: Montgomery County. Now all I hear is that it's no big deal where HQ2 is located, because a lot of the employees will want to live in MD anyway... ![]() |
The parts of MD close to VA are very expensive that can commute there. But people can easily commute to Crystal City VA from MD. In NYC folks who work on wall street pay six figures for houses that have "short commutes' to the city that around one hour 15 minutes one way and commuter train, subway, parking at station run around $500 a month. People DMV might think it is a lot but for folks in San Fran or NYC it is nothing. And who says you have to drive? The metro goes right there. In NYC or San Fran that would be super easy. VA gave Amazon a boat load of free money to come. DC is real winner as tons of workers will live in DC and pay DC taxes but DC was not stupid enough to give them money to come. |
Most we know stay 3-4 years depending on their contract and their RSU's and then it just depends on what Amazon offers after that. Amazon is like most companies where you have to leave and come back to make more money and getting promoted is very hard and boss dependent. It makes no sense if you live in Montgomery County to move to VA in less you want to move anyway for a job with Amazon. Amazon will recruit locals first. Most tech/IT jobs are disposable and people job jump all the time. Its much easier to live in Montgomery County and have the option to commute to VA or in further out MD vs. live in VA and commute to MD. Metro makes no sense. You have to drive to the metro, pay for parking, pay for the metro, then take a bus to your office. To take the metro, you have to metro into DC first so its a long trip too. |
If you live in walking distance to the metro and live in VA, sure, some will take the metro but from MD to VA it makes no sense to take the metro, especially if you are not in walking distance. Do you realize how many employees there are now working for Amazon who do the commute? Amazon is a flexible company depending on your supervision and job so often you can work at home a few days a week which makes the commute a lot more tolerable. If you own your home, you are not going to up and sell to work for Amazon in less you plan to move anyway. You commute. Many people commute. The advantage of buying further out VA vs. MD is you can get a nicer house for less money and more land. |