[mikesmad]

Maybe I am cynical but based of my experience I would say

1. Does the new CEO live there or want to live there
2. Does the new CEO’s wife want to live there

Two major reorg/buyouts/senior management changes in two different companies in the last 15 years and those two items drove the decision as to where the headquarters were each time. Cost/crime/infrastructure was immaterial.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Maybe I am cynical but based of my experience I would say 1. Does the new CEO live there or want to live there

Classic example: Greyhound Bus Lines, after spending it's entire corporate history in Chicago, picked-up and moved to Phoenix strictly because their new CEO preferred to live there.

He took the company into bankruptcy and his replacement moved them again, to Dallas.