"First of all, still having a headquarters right there in your city is very valuable: It brings jobs. It brings prestige. It brings a lot of civic activism," says Dr. Walden, a North Carolina Cooperative Extension specialist.

"But headquarters today of companies seem to be in play more. Yes, traditionally, they have gone to big cities but big cities have costs -- congestion costs, higher prices," he explains.

"Also air travel today makes being in a medium or smaller city less disadvantageous. So for this reason, big cities no longer have a monopoly on headquarters, and smaller and medium size cities are able to compete for that big prize."