Jan 21, 2018 3 min read

OK, Cleveland has a vastly better chance of fielding a contending baseball team this year than Pittsburgh, and it does have the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But Pittsburgh has marginally better weather than our western rival, is certainly more scenically attractive, and has never suffered the ignominy of fielding an 0-16 football team.

And here’s another reason Pittsburgh can lord it over Cleveland: The Steel City made the list of 20 finalists for Amazon’s much-ballyhooed second headquarters, joining the likes of Toronto, Boston, Philadelphia, New York and Washington, D.C., as well as dark-horse candidates like Indianapolis and Columbus, Ohio. The city that ultimately nabs the prize, and the 50,000 well-paying jobs and billions of dollars in economic development that are included, will be announced later this year.

Should Pittsburgh-area residents be getting their hopes up? The city’s chances shouldn’t be discounted.

It’s a burgeoning hotbed of high-tech industry, can draw from a supply of well-educated graduates from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, along with smaller colleges and universities in the region, like Washington & Jefferson College and Waynesburg University, has scenic beauty, is walkable, has land on which Amazon can build and a thriving cultural scene.

In October, Moody’s Analytics looked at all possible contenders for what’s been dubbed Amazon HQ2, and ranked Pittsburgh in fifth place, based on its business environment, human capital, cost of living, quality of life, transportation and geography (the fourth-place pick on Moody’s list, Rochester, N.Y., ended up not being among the 20 finalists). Forbes magazine also placed Pittsburgh on its list of five probable contenders for Amazon HQ2, describing it as “an up-and-coming destination for tech companies…”

Also, as we pointed out a few months ago, Pittsburgh-area residents who automatically assume that the city has no chance should think back to Atlanta winning the 1996 Summer Olympics. In the lead-up to the announcement in 1990, most observers scoffed at Atlanta’s odds, but it ended up beating what seemed to be more plausible contenders like Athens and Toronto.

That being said, the folks reading the tea leaves on what city Amazon will choose have tended to focus heavily on one city – yep, Atlanta. They cite its bustling international airport, quality universities like the Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State University, Emory University and, about an hour to the north, the University of Georgia. It also has a lower cost of living compared to places like New York or D.C., a solid public transportation system and, let’s be honest, better weather.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette also pointed out Atlanta has offered an incentive package to Amazon worth $1 billion, with a bevy of tax incentives and grants.

So, it’s by no means a given that Pittsburgh will win Amazon HQ. But the fact the city is even contending highlights the progress it has made since manufacturing fell into the doldrums in the late 1970s and the region was beset by a sorrowful exodus of its residents.