Guest Commentary

By Lauren Scott, The Center Square

WASHINGTON STATE–Approximately 9% of America’s corporations moved headquarters since the beginning of 2022, the highest rate since 2017, with most corporations moving to Florida, Texas, and Arizona.

The states that corporations were most likely to abandon were Washington, New York, and California.

“Florida had 86% more corporations move their HQ there, compared to the number of companies that chose to move their head office out of Florida—the highest net gain of any state,” according to Hire A Helper, who collected data from Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

Texas had a net gain of 71% while Arizona was 65%.

Washington had 83% more companies leaving it than moving in, including media company Arena Group, and Clearsign Technologies, a developer of emission control solutions.

New York, -51%, and California, -46%, ranked second and third among the states that lost the most corporate headquarters, respectively.

Chuck DeVore, former California state assemblyman and chief national initiatives officer at Texas Public Policy Foundation, said many corporations are moving to Texas because it is a central location, allowing for shipments to arrive across the U.S quicker.

He said many corporations move because they’re motivated by costs.

“Not just taxation of course, but also the cost for the lawsuit environment,” DeVore said. “The cost to comply with a multitude of different types of regulations, whether they be environmental regulations, or labor force compliance, land costs, as well as electricity costs.”