md_exile

Probably because data centers don't necessarily mean a lot of jobs. The 2014 financial report doesn't mention Amazon in their top 10 either: http://www.loudoun.gov/DocumentCenter/View/110442

Looking for headquarters is meaningful if we're trying to make a comparison between Mountain View and Loudoun County. Google is headquartered in Mountain View. Loudoun has no real equivalent for HQs or even large offices for global companies. The startup scene is pretty dry too.

Apart from voting a board that wants to increase housing there's almost no comparison. If you want to use Dulles and Loudoun as an example you should use it to illustrate that you can't slap in a bunch of housing units without thinking about infrastructure.

It was done with little effort towards proper planning and infrastructure. The entire region from Dulles and east now seamlessly melds into the horrific gridlock of Northern Virginia. Simply voting to allow housing can be as short sighted as what planners had evidently previously planned for in Mountain View.

At any rate, I stand by my assertion that it's a really poor comparison between MV and Loudoun.

Amended to reflect the wikipedia post: MCI (now Verizon assume) and Aol are really the only large headquartered technology companies that I've seen in Ashburn. There are smaller firms, but there hasn't been a windfall of companies willing to move further away from DC to setup headquarters here. Loudoun remains largely housing sprawl.

Also amended with this helpful link of the county's largest employers: http://www.biz.loudoun.gov/index.aspx?NID=103

... and it's in many ways been an unmitigated disaster.

I'm pro-housing but this is a poor comparison. The difference is that apart from a few large employers most people in Loudoun, VA commute to the larger employment centers of Fairfax and DC.