West Palm Beach just made a seventeen million dollar bet.
The city offered this massive incentive package to lure ServiceNow, a Fortune 500 AI company, away from California. The deal brings 850 new jobs with an average salary of $170,000 to downtown's CityPlace development.
Kelly Smallridge, president of Palm Beach County's Business Development Board, called it "the largest relocation deal I have ever seen in over three decades."
But ServiceNow represents something bigger than one company's move.
The Great Tech Migration Is Real
California lost eight Fortune 500 firms between 2018 and 2023. Seven of them moved to Texas, with Tesla leading the exodus from Palo Alto to Austin.
Now Florida is joining the competition.
Microsoft moved its Latin America regional team to Miami's Brickell district. Amazon and Apple are expanding their Florida presence. The pattern is clear: tech companies are spreading beyond Silicon Valley's expensive, regulated ecosystem.
The numbers tell the story. Miami startups raised $4.6 billion in 2024, a 35% jump that pushed the city to fifth nationally for deal activity.
Why Cities Are Paying Premium Prices
West Palm Beach's $17 million investment reveals the new reality of economic development. Cities compete like sports teams bidding for star players.
The math works. ServiceNow's 850 employees earning $170,000 annually inject $144.5 million in direct wages into the local economy. Add multiplier effects from housing, dining, services, and supporting businesses, and the return easily justifies the incentive cost.
But the real value comes from ecosystem development.
One major tech company attracts others. Talent pools form. Supporting industries emerge. Venture capital follows. The initial investment becomes a catalyst for broader transformation.
Florida's Structural Advantages
The Sunshine State offers what California increasingly cannot: reasonable costs, business-friendly policies, and quality of life without crushing taxes.
Florida welcomed 503 business relocations in 2024 alone. Nearly 630,000 new businesses started statewide. The momentum is building on itself.
West Palm Beach specifically ranks among the top large metropolitan areas for economic growth in the 2025 Milken Institute Index. The city solved its historical problem of lacking Class A office space that could attract major corporations.
The Broader Pattern
This trend extends beyond Florida. Mid-sized cities across America are positioning themselves as alternatives to traditional tech hubs.
Austin pioneered the model. Nashville, Denver, and Raleigh followed. Now Florida cities are joining the competition with natural advantages: no state income tax, year-round weather, and lower operational costs.
The ServiceNow deal represents a tipping point. When Fortune 500 companies start viewing mid-sized cities as legitimate alternatives to Silicon Valley, the entire economic geography shifts.
What This Means
Tech companies are discovering they can access talent, reduce costs, and improve quality of life by moving beyond coastal megacities. Cities are learning to compete aggressively with incentive packages that make financial sense.
The result is a more distributed innovation economy.
Silicon Valley will remain important, but it no longer holds a monopoly on tech talent and investment. Companies have options. Cities have opportunities.
West Palm Beach's seventeen million dollar bet reflects this new reality. The question now is which other cities will make similar investments to compete for the next wave of tech relocations.
The migration is just beginning.
