New statistics from Amazon show the company’s total spending on jobs and infrastructure in each US state from 2010 to 2020 – and show where the tech giant has made its biggest stakes over the past decade and where there are still major gaps to fill.
Amazon released the numbers to show its positive impact across the country at a time when other effects of its growth are increasingly in the news.
- The company has spent more than $ 530 billion on infrastructure (e.g. new facilities) and employee compensation in the United States over the past decade.
- Amazon says it has created more jobs in the US than any other company in the past decade and it currently employs more than 950,000 people in the country. (Amazon employs more than 1.3 million people worldwide.)
- For 2010-2020, the company’s numbers are way ahead in Washington state with $ 129 billion in economic investments.
- California ranks second by a long way with $ 81 billion in spending on jobs and infrastructure for the decade.
- Virginia, where Amazon is building its second headquarters, ranked third for the decade with $ 34 billion in Amazon spending.
- Rounding out the top 10 were Texas (US $ 29 billion), New Jersey (US $ 23 billion), Kentucky (US $ 20 billion), Florida (US $ 18 billion), Pennsylvania (US $ 17 billion) ), Arizona ($ 16 billion), and Indiana ($ 15 billion).
Check out the state numbers on this Amazon card and in our sortable list below.
Amazon’s total investment for the decade in Washington state is no surprise given its rapid growth in Seattle and more recently in nearby Bellevue, Washington.
On an annualized basis, Amazon said it spent a record $ 167 billion on infrastructure and jobs nationwide in 2020 as it struggled with the effects of COVID-19.
While the company released state investment figures for the past decade, it declined GeekWire’s request to do the same for the past year.
However, by calculating the difference between the company’s latest statistics and previous disclosures, we can estimate that Amazon’s Washington state spending last year was approximately $ 28-29 billion.
California was much closer to second in 2020 than it has been in the entire decade, with Amazon spending an estimated $ 26 billion for the year.
This reflects the rapid expansion of Amazon’s fulfillment and delivery centers as the company builds its last mile delivery capabilities across the country.
A hint of that growth: Amazon employed more than 153,000 people in California at the end of 2020, almost twice as many as in Washington state.
However, many of the jobs on Amazon in his home state are high-paying engineering and corporate management positions. Amazon’s starting salary in its fulfillment and distribution network is $ 15 an hour, more than double the state minimum wage, but it also employs a greater proportion of part-time workers in these positions.
Here’s GeekWire’s sortable list of Amazon’s 2010-2020 investment totals by state, as well as 2015-2020 employment numbers, taken from data we’ve compiled and maintained over the years as part of our reporting on the company.