A CBRE report found headquarters relocation activity surged in 2025 as companies moved toward markets offering lower costs, tax advantages, stronger talent access and office strategies shaped by hybrid work.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Corporate headquarters relocations accelerated sharply in 2025, with Texas, Florida and other lower-cost markets gaining ground as companies reassessed taxes, operating costs, labor access and office space needs.
The shift reflects a broader redrawing of America’s corporate map, with headquarters activity increasingly favoring business-friendly metros in Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Arizona, Tennessee and Georgia, according to a Fox News report and a CBRE analysis published in April.
“Texas has emerged as the biggest winner in corporate America’s flight from high-tax blue states, attracting a wave of headquarters relocations as companies increasingly abandon costly coastal hubs for lower-tax Republican strongholds,” Fox News said Sunday. “The relocation wave is reshaping the balance of economic power in America, boosting red-state economies while raising fresh questions about whether high taxes and regulation are driving companies out of blue-state strongholds.”
CBRE’s 2026 update found that headquarters relocation announcements rose to 164 in 2025, up from 96 the previous year. The firm said its expanded dataset now includes 725 public headquarters announcements from 2018 through 2025, up from a previously collected 561, offering a broader view of how companies are making long-term real estate and location decisions.
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington led the country in net new headquarters gained, adding 11. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach and Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos also ranked near the top. Other high-ranking markets included cities in North Carolina, Arizona, Tennessee and Georgia, with New Jersey standing out as an exception to the general red-state trend.
CBRE said companies cited “pro-business environments, tax benefits, growing and diverse talent pools and supportive infrastructures” as key factors behind many moves.
The largest headquarters losses were concentrated in higher-cost and heavily regulated markets, though some red-state metros also appeared on the list. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim recorded the largest net loss, with 10 headquarters departures. New York-Newark-Jersey City and San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley followed. Other metros in California, Oregon, Illinois, Colorado and Michigan also recorded net losses.
CBRE said departures from California’s largest metros, including San Francisco/San Jose and Los Angeles, continued to be “driven by high taxes, labor regulations and cost-of-living pressures.”
The data show that companies are not only crossing state lines. Many are also moving within the same metropolitan area as they rethink office footprints after the pandemic and the rise of hybrid work. CBRE’s annual relocation chart and interstate-versus-intrastate chart showed both a jump in total activity and a growing role for intrametro strategies.
“Intrametro—within the same metropolitan area—relocations are rising, driven largely by companies rethinking how much office space they need in a hybrid world. This trend is particularly visible in large metropolitan areas, where hybrid work has permanently reshaped office demand,” CBRE said. “Some companies are intentionally downsizing square footage, shifting away from traditional large, centralized floorplates toward smaller and more flexible, efficient offices. In 2025, firms increasingly opt for space formats that include desk sharing, flexible floors and multifunctional collaboration hubs—often a fraction of the size of pre-pandemic HQ footprints.”
CBRE said hub-and-spoke strategies are also moving companies away from traditional central business district headquarters and into smaller offices across multiple submarkets.
“Hub-and-spoke strategies are accelerating intra-metro moves, with firms relocating from one HQ in a central business district (downtown area) into smaller offices in multiple submarkets—closer to where employees live and better aligned with hybrid commute preferences. This intracity redistribution is strongest in large metropolitan cities where suburban offices are gaining traction,” the report said. “Cost efficiency continues to be a major driver of relocation decisions. By moving to smaller headquarters, companies reduce lease costs, utilities, long-term commitments, labor cost and maintenance expenses. These savings allow them to invest more in advanced hybrid-collaboration technology while also resetting in-office and remote-work expectations in a new location.”
Dallas-Fort Worth remained the standout market. CBRE said the metro had 18 headquarters announcements in 2025, including 11 interstate or international relocations from higher-cost markets such as Chicago, New York City, the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. Seven other companies made intrastate moves within the Dallas metro to consolidate operations, right-size office space, find better amenities or move into buildings with available space.
New York City presented a more mixed picture. Of the 17 headquarters relocation announcements listing New York as the destination, only seven were net-new entrants. Ten were intrastate moves by companies already operating in the region. Those companies largely cited portfolio optimization, expanded or right-sized space, and continued commitment to the broader metro. CBRE said nine of those 10 intrastate moves involved newly built or retrofitted buildings in the New York-Newark-Jersey City metro, totaling more than 2 million square feet of activity.
CBRE’s separate analysis of the nation’s top 100 occupier expansions found that Manhattan captured 36% of total square footage. Most companies cited real estate needs, such as space optimization, quality upgrades or growth opportunities, rather than leaving the market.
The New York-Newark-Jersey City metro remains home to 114 Fortune 1000 headquarters. CBRE said nine companies exited the metro for other U.S. markets in 2025, including three Fortune 1000 companies, representing a loss of 5,220 employees. The region also gained one company relocating from San Francisco to improve access to skilled talent and build an East Coast presence, along with six international companies establishing U.S. headquarters to better serve North American customers or access finance and technology labor.
Phoenix also gained momentum. CBRE said five relocations brought net-new headquarters to the Phoenix metro from other U.S. cities. Four other announcements involved existing companies moving within the state to adjust their portfolios or find buildings with better amenities and less square footage. One international company moved its headquarters to Phoenix from Canada.
Miami continued attracting companies from Los Angeles, the Bay Area and Boston. CBRE said companies cited the metro’s growing financial technology talent pool, startup ecosystem and ability to consolidate operations. Miami also appeared on both the gained and lost lists, which CBRE linked to the structure of its labor market.
“Miami’s tech labor market is characterized by a wide base of general technology talent and strong growth momentum, but limited depth in specialized and advanced technical skills, often requiring firms to recruit experienced specialists from outside the region. This disparity may explain why Miami appears on both lists of the top cities that gained and lost HQs,” CBRE said.
Florida’s tax system ranked fifth overall on the 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index, giving companies an East Coast base with lower corporate tax advantages. Two international companies chose Miami because of its industry-specific strengths: a cosmetics company tied to the region’s medical spa and dermatological aesthetics market, and a travel company drawn to South Florida’s leisure and travel workforce.
CBRE’s top gained cities chart and top lost cities chart illustrated the geographic divide between growing lower-cost metros and higher-cost coastal hubs.
The reasons companies gave for relocating also shifted. In 2025, the top stated reason was consolidation, portfolio optimization or mergers and acquisitions, with 34 relocations. Business climate, which includes lower taxes, incentives and cost of living, accounted for 27. Real estate factors, including lower building costs and amenities, also accounted for 27. Access to a consumer base accounted for another 27.
That marked a change from 2024, when business climate and consumer access were the leading drivers, accounting for 40 relocations combined. CBRE said companies citing growth opportunity rose nearly 47%, from 15 in 2024 to 22 in 2025. Labor availability accounted for 24 relocations, while lower-cost tech talent, a more prominent driver from 2021 to 2023, fell to three.
CBRE’s relocations-by-reason chart reflected those changing motivations. The firm said it refined its methodology for the 2026 report by streamlining relocation reasons into seven main categories. It also noted that the business climate category includes several possible factors and should not be interpreted as meaning incentives alone drove a company’s decision.
Technology and manufacturing companies were the most active movers in 2025, with 39 and 33 relocations, respectively. CBRE said many were moving away from traditional coastal hubs such as Silicon Valley and Seattle toward lower-cost metros viewed as more favorable to innovation. Several companies in those sectors cited growth opportunities that had outpaced real estate capacity and specialized labor availability in their original markets.
Business services firms announced 17 headquarters relocations, reflecting a push to reduce costs, reach new talent pools and reposition administrative hubs in business-friendly metros. Financial services companies announced 15 moves, continuing a migration toward lower-cost, pro-business states, especially in the Sun Belt. CBRE said those companies were focused on compliance cost structures, access to financial talent and more flexible real estate strategies suited to hybrid work.
CBRE’s industry relocation chart and industry-and-reason chart showed that relocation motivations differ across sectors, with technology, manufacturing, business services and financial services among the most active.
International companies also continued moving headquarters functions to the United States. CBRE said 26 international companies established or relocated global headquarters to the U.S. in 2025. The greater New York City region benefited from six finance and technology companies establishing North American headquarters. Manufacturing companies from China, South Korea and Japan established U.S. headquarters to access skilled advanced manufacturing labor and serve existing customers. Israeli aerospace and technology companies selected locations including Detroit and Tampa, while U.K.-based finance and technology firms chose large metros such as Atlanta, Columbus and New York City for broader labor access.
The wave of movement has also increased attention on political and tax decisions in higher-cost states. Fox News said the issue is gaining visibility as Democrats in several blue states push billionaire taxes and other progressive policies that critics say could further accelerate departures by companies and wealthy residents.
“The issue is drawing even more attention as Democrats in several blue states push billionaire taxes and other progressive policies that critics warn could accelerate the exodus of companies and wealthy residents,” Fox News said.
CBRE said companies considering headquarters changes are now weighing which business groups should remain at headquarters, which should move, and how hybrid work changes the role of a central office. The firm said companies are also evaluating whether their operating models support a distributed footprint, what skills they will need, how culture, cost and talent access should shape location decisions, and how to balance lower-cost markets with labor quality and competition.
Other planning questions include the future size and structure of headquarters, alignment with broader real estate holdings, the cost of refreshing existing headquarters versus moving, and the expected payback period of relocation.
CBRE concluded that 2025 became a year of elevated headquarters decision-making as corporate mobility accelerated. The firm said companies are increasingly comparing submarkets within the same region while hybrid work reshapes location strategy and increases demand for smaller, more flexible and more efficient headquarters footprints.