DC The Favorite For Amazon's 2nd HQ: Consultant

WASHINGTON, DC -- Now that Amazon has narrowed the list of contenders for its massive second headquarters, everyone is trying to figure out who the favorite is. According to one consulting group, D.C. is the frontrunner.

Hamilton Place Strategies has released a report ranking Amazon's 2nd HQ options, and D.C. has earned the top spot, followed by Boston and then Northern Virginia.

Among D.C.'s strengths are its mass transit, which it ranked third, as well as multiple international airports. D.C. also has the best educated workforce, above average livability and diversity, and nearly 60 percent fiber optic coverage.

Working against D.C. is the fact that it has fewer top 50 universities than other contenders, and below average business and career rankings.

The firm said that Northern Virginia had similarly high scores in the same categories, and similar drawbacks. Also, unlike D.C., Northern Virginia has below average cellular coverage at around 81 percent.

There is one other good reason to believe D.C. is the favorite (not mentioned in the report): Amazon owner Jeff Bezos purchased the Washington Post not long ago, and owns a home in the D.C. area.

The new headquarters would bring 50,000 jobs to whatever area is chosen, as well as billions of dollars in investment.

You can read the full report here.

SANTA MONICA, CA - SEPTEMBER 6: The Amazon logo is projected onto a screen at a press conference on September 6, 2012 in Santa Monica, California. Amazon unveiled the Kindle Paperwhite and the Kindle Fire HD in 7 and 8.9-inch sizes. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)