After weighing hundreds of bids from cities in Mexico, Canada, and the U.S., Amazon decided on Crystal City, Virginia, and Long Island City, New York to establish two new headquarters. But how will this affect the people living in these two locations?

Originally, Amazon planned to hire 50,000 workers at HQ2 and for the construction to cost close to $5 billion. Based on Amazon’s calculations, along with the 50,000 additional tech-related jobs towards HQ2, there will be another 53,000 non-Amazon related jobs opening up as well, divided between both cities.

In 2017, about eight million people lived in Virginia. 3.2 percent of those people were unemployed, which comes out to over 300,000 people. The HQ2 opening in Arlington, which was announced on November 13, 2018, will provide thousands of job opportunities to those currently unemployed in Arlington and the surrounding areas. Another positive destiny for both cities that Amazon predicts is that, with the addition of HQ2 to the city, it will add $38 billion to the local economy. This means that the city will be valued, both literally and figuratively, substantially higher, and will benefit those living in the area.

Furthermore, Amazon stated that HQ2 will boost the personal income of non-Amazon related jobs by $17 billion. The median income in Crystal City is around $102,615 annually. This is $43,576 more than the average of the U.S. In Long Island City, the average income is $48,773, much less than that of Crystal City, and $10,266 less than that of the United States. With the addition of HQ2 in both of these cities, there will come a surplus of new job opportunities and even more economic prosperity.