Tulsa is among the dozens of cities vying for Amazon HQ2, the company's $5 billion second headquarters and its promise of up to 50,000 high-paying jobs, but it could come at a cost to current residents.
A study by Apartment List estimates existing renters would see rents rise through the roof.
"That's especially true for lower-income renters who may be already struggling and just barely making ends meet, and if their rents are increasing another 2-plus percent a year, they'll really struggle," said research associate Sydney Bennet.
Tulsa's estimated additional annual rent growth of 2 or more percent comes down having supply and demand problems if Amazon HQ2 comes to town.
"It's pretty even, both the lack of housing stock and then the workers coming in will have much higher wages and kind of pull the demand there," Bennet said.
Amazon’s workers would be paid more than most local workers, giving the new Tulsa residents an edge in the rental market
Besides up to 50,000 Amazon employees, HQ2 is expected to require around 60,000 support jobs like construction workers and retail employees. Tulsa has two problems to address to increase housing stock enough to mitigate rent increases.
"One is the political side of things. You know, you have to approve permits pretty quickly, build probably big, big buildings, increase the density of the city," Bennet said. "And then the second side is you just need enough construction workers and companies to kind of fill that demand."
Tulsa is considered a long shot for Amazon HQ2. A site will be chosen next year.
