The Virginia Economic Development Partnership and recent corporate filings confirmed on April 20, 2026, that Amazon.com Inc. has failed to meet its annual job creation targets at its second headquarters in Northern Virginia for the third consecutive year. According to an annual progress report obtained through an open records request, the technology giant ended 2025 with a net loss of 73 incentive-eligible positions at its Arlington campus, missing a projected growth target of more than 1,600 new jobs for the year.
As of December 31, 2025, Amazon had created a total of 7,159 qualifying jobs at the site known as HQ2. This figure represents approximately 28.6 percent of the company’s ultimate goal of 25,000 jobs by 2038. Under the original 2018 incentive agreement with the Commonwealth of Virginia, the company was projected to have reached 11,643 positions by the end of 2025. The current shortfall of 4,484 jobs marks a significant deceleration from the hiring pace established during the project’s first phase and represents the third straight year the company has missed its benchmarks.
The lack of job growth directly impacts Amazon’s eligibility for a portion of the $750 million in public subsidies promised by the state. The agreement provides for post-performance grants of $22,000 for every new qualifying job created, provided the positions maintain an average annual salary above a specified threshold, which was $164,016 for the 2025 period. Because the company did not add new eligible roles last year, it will not request workforce grant funding for this cycle. This follows a 2024 request where the company sought $6.4 million for adding 293 jobs, a sharp decline from the thousands of roles initially anticipated annually.
Holly Sullivan, Amazon’s vice president of worldwide economic development policy, attributed the slowdown to broader economic headwinds and a shift in corporate strategy. In a statement, Sullivan noted that the original 2018 projections were based on peak growth periods and did not account for recent global economic volatility or the company’s internal restructuring. Amazon has reduced its global corporate workforce significantly over the past year, a move that has curtailed expansion plans at satellite offices and secondary headquarters.
The second phase of the HQ2 development, a multi-tower complex called PenPlace that includes the signature Helix structure, remains on an indefinite pause. While the first phase, Metropolitan Park, is operational and houses roughly 8,500 total employees—including those in non-qualifying roles—the delay in further construction has stalled the influx of new high-wage positions.
Despite the hiring shortfall, state officials noted that Amazon remains the largest private employer in the region and has invested $2.5 billion in the project to date. A spokesperson for Governor Abigail Spanberger’s office stated that while Amazon remains an important driver of growth, the state remains committed to the performance-based nature of the incentives to protect taxpayer interests. However, the company’s annual report now lists its confidence in reaching the 25,000-job target as moderate, a downgrade from the high confidence rating it maintained until 2025. The next formal review of the project's progress is scheduled for early 2027.