Headquarters relocation is no longer a pandemic-era reflex; it has become a standing component of portfolio strategy and the geography of those decisions is clarifying fast. CBRE's latest headquarters relocation study, covering 725 public announcements between 2018 and 2025, shows activity accelerating in 2025 and concentrating in a short list of metros that are consolidating their position as long-term winners—and others that are clearly paying the price.
Texas holds the high ground
Dallas–Fort Worth remains the single strongest magnet for corporate headquarters in the United States. CBRE reports that DFW has attracted more than 100 headquarters relocations since 2018, the highest total of any U.S. metro and added another 11 interstate or international HQs in 2025 alone from higher-cost markets, including Los Angeles, the Bay Area, New York and Chicago.
Those inbound deals were part of 18 total 2025 announcements in DFW, with the remaining seven involving companies moving within the metro to consolidate their footprints or upgrade to buildings with available space and stronger amenities.
The Dallas story is emblematic of two overlapping trends in CBRE's data: the continued pull of low-cost, business-friendly states and the rise of intrametro moves as occupiers refine space for hybrid work. Companies are not just leaving one market for another; they are trading older, larger floorplates for smaller, more efficient, amenity-rich space, often "right-sizing" rather than expanding.
Sun Belt contenders add depth
Beyond Texas, a group of Sun Belt and growth markets is emerging as a second tier of consistent headquarters winners. CBRE highlights Charlotte, Miami, Nashville and Phoenix as rising contenders that combine pro-business environments, tax advantages and expanding talent pools.
Phoenix illustrates how those dynamics translate into concrete deal flow. In 2025, nine headquarters announcements landed in the metro: five were net-new HQs from other U.S. cities, four were intrastate moves driven by portfolio rightsizing and amenity upgrades, and one was an international relocation from Canada.
Miami's role is more complex but no less consequential. CBRE records six companies relocating their HQs to Miami from other U.S. metros, such as Los Angeles, the Bay Area and Boston, attracted by its growing fintech talent base, start-up ecosystem, and the ability to consolidate operations in a low-tax state.
Florida ranks fifth overall on the 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index and CBRE noted that companies are using an East Coast presence in Miami to pair lower corporate tax burdens with access to North American customers.
Two international firms—a cosmetics company and a travel company—also chose Miami to tap the region's concentration of aesthetics and travel-and-leisure expertise.
CBRE points out that Miami appears on both lists of cities gaining HQs and those losing them, reflecting a broad yet still maturing tech labor market that often requires firms to import more specialized talent.
New York loses some HQs but gains others
CBRE's 2026 update offers a counter-narrative to the idea of a broad corporate exodus from New York. Of 17 headquarters relocation announcements naming New York City as the destination, only seven were net-new entrants; the other 10 were intrastate moves within the broader New York–Newark–Jersey City metro. Those 10 companies sought to optimize their portfolios, either right-sizing or expanding into new or retrofitted buildings across Manhattan, New Jersey and Westchester County.
Nine of the 10 intrastate relocations moved into newly built or significantly renovated space, totaling more than two million square feet, according to CBRE. In a separate analysis of the nation's top 100 occupier expansions, Manhattan captured 36 percent of total square footage, with most companies citing real estate–specific drivers—space optimization, quality upgrades or access to future growth—rather than a desire to exit the market.
New York is not immune to outbound pressure: CBRE tracks nine companies leaving the metro for other U.S. markets in 2025, including three Fortune 1000 firms, representing a loss of about 5,220 employees. But the region still hosts 114 Fortune 1000 headquarters and continues to benefit disproportionately from U.S. HQ entries by international finance and technology companies, six of which established North American bases in the greater NYC area in 2025.
One company also moved its HQ from San Francisco to New York to deepen access to highly skilled talent and secure an East Coast presence.
Coastal California remains the main donor
If Texas and select Sun Belt markets are the top beneficiaries of headquarters relocation, California's largest metros remain the primary donors. CBRE's analysis shows San Francisco/San Jose and Los Angeles posting net headquarters losses in the 2018–2025 period, with departures tied to high corporate and personal tax burdens, regulatory intensity and cost-of-living pressures.
Those outbound flows link directly to the gains in Dallas–Fort Worth, Austin, Miami, Nashville, Phoenix and other lower-cost metros. CBRE notes that many of the 2025 interstate moves into DFW and Miami originated in the Bay Area and Los Angeles.
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