Office profile
Amazon Headquarters & offices · Seattle, Washington
Amazon · Seattle, Washington
Meeting rooms among the trees under three glass domes — and 20 weeks of fully paid leave for birthing parents.
The Spheres, HQ2 in Virginia, 20 weeks of paid leave for birthing parents and the road from a garage to downtown Seattle — then pay by level. Numbers from Amazon's filings and official pages.
- 1,576,000employees, end of 2025
- 20 weeksfully paid leave for birthing parents
- 55,000 sq ftof plants and workspace in the Spheres
- $143,700+base pay, SDE II in Seattle
Sources: Form 10-K 2025 · Proxy statement 2026 · aboutamazon.com · amazon.jobs postings
Companies / United States / E-commerce & cloud / Amazon
THE OFFICE PEOPLE TALK ABOUT · THE SPHERES · 2018
Three glass domes where people work among plants
The Spheres, in the middle of Amazon's downtown Seattle campus, give employees more than 55,000 sq ft of planted workspace — meeting rooms in the trees, walkways and a café floor. Across the country, HQ2 in Arlington, Virginia, opened its first phase in 2023.
- 55,000+ sq ft
- Opened January 2018
- Design: NBBJ
- HQ2 Phase 1: 2023
The Spheres, inside (2024)
South Lake Union, Seattle
HQ2, Arlington (Metropolitan Park)
Elsewhere
Facts: aboutamazon.com (headquarters photo tour; Spheres press release, Jan 2018) · eciffo office records (architect). Photos: Wikimedia Commons, credited on each photo.
Seattle and Arlington
| Building | Address |
|---|---|
| The Spheres | 2111 7th Avenue, Seattle, WA |
| Day 1 | 2021 7th Avenue, Seattle, WA |
| HQ2 · Metropolitan Park | 1450 S. Eads St, Arlington, VA 22202 |
Source: eciffo office records · See them on the map ↓
Source: Form 10-K 2025, Item 2 (leased + owned office space) · aboutamazon.com
Office tour videos
Benefits (United States)
Fully paid, including up to 14 weeks of pregnancy disability leave.
Fully paid parental leave for non-birthing and adoptive parents.
Paid leave for a partner whose employer offers none.
Return to full-time hours over several months.
From the first day; 24/7 medical counselors.
401(k) plan with company match.
Pre-paid tuition at more than 475 education partners.
Paid time off and paid holidays.
Source: aboutamazon.com, “Amazon employee benefits” · Proxy statement 2026
What Amazon says it offers its people
Up to 20 weeks fully paid, including up to 14 weeks of pregnancy disability leave.
Six weeks fully paid for non-birthing and adoptive parents.
Six weeks of paid leave can be shared with a partner whose employer doesn't provide it.
Employees worldwide have used Amazon's education-funding program.
Corporate offers include sign-on payments and restricted stock units.
Health care starts on the first day for regular full-time employees.
Source: aboutamazon.com, “Amazon employee benefits” · Form 10-K 2025 · Proxy statement 2026 · amazon.jobs postings
Who works here
employees (Dec 31, 2025)
U.S. full-time median pay
have used Career Choice
shops and restaurants across the Seattle HQ
Source: Form 10-K 2025 · Proxy statement 2026 · aboutamazon.com
Pay at Amazon
Most of Amazon's people work in warehouses and transport. The U.S. full-time median was $53,211.
Source: Proxy statement 2026
Source: amazon.jobs postings 10542435 and 10570576 (2026). Offers add sign-on payments and RSUs.
Amazon doesn't publish pay by age. Pay ranges in job postings are the closest official number.
Compare Amazon with: Microsoft · Walmart
Office history: from a garage to glass spheres
- 1994 A garage in Bellevue
Jeff Bezos started Amazon in 1994 in the garage of his home in Bellevue, Washington. The first desks were doors from Home Depot with legs attached. Amazon.com opened in July 1995.
Source: aboutamazon.com, “Amazon recreated the garage where Jeff Bezos started the company”
The garage today, Bellevue, 2024 · SounderBruce / CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons - 2001 Leased offices across Seattle
Amazon owned no real estate. Its U.S. offices — about 725,000 sq ft — were in several leased buildings in Seattle.
Source: Form 10-K 2000 (filed 2001), Item 2
Pacific Medical Center on Beacon Hill, then Amazon's headquarters building, 2007 · Joe Mabel / CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons - 2010s Downtown Seattle and Day 1
By the end of 2011 Amazon leased about 4.3 million sq ft of offices. Its towers rose in downtown Seattle, including Day 1.
Source: Form 10-K 2011, Item 2
Day 1, January 2017 · Adamajreynolds / CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons - 2018 The Spheres open
In January 2018 the Spheres opened at the heart of the Seattle campus: more than 55,000 sq ft for employees to work among plants.
Source: Amazon press release, Jan 2018 · aboutamazon.com
The Spheres, 2020 · SounderBruce / CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons - 2023 HQ2 in Arlington, Virginia
The first phase of HQ2, Metropolitan Park, opened in 2023 with a public park beside it.
Source: Amazon (official video, 2023) · eciffo office records
HQ2 Phase 1, January 2026 · Aapehill / CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
| Annual report | HQ space (sq ft) | m² | As described |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-K 2000 | 725,000 | 67,355 | U.S. offices, all leased (Seattle) |
| 10-K 2010 | 3,001,000 | 278,802 | Corporate offices, N. America + Intl. |
| 10-K 2011 | 4,253,000 | 395,116 | Office leases |
| 10-K 2025 | 68,485,000 | 6,362,462 | Office space, leased + owned, worldwide |
Map: how the headquarters moved
From a house in Bellevue across Lake Washington to downtown Seattle, about 12 km. HQ2 in Arlington, Virginia (not on this map) is 3,700 km away.
- 1 · 1994The garage, Bellevue
- 2000sLeased offices in Seattle — not pinned: the 10-K doesn't name the buildings
- 2 · 2010s–Day 1 and the Spheres, downtown Seattle
- 2023–HQ2, 1450 S. Eads St, Arlington, Virginia
Addresses: aboutamazon.com · eciffo office records · Locations: OpenStreetMap · Basemap © Esri
What Amazon does
Amazon runs the world's biggest online store, a marketplace for other sellers, Prime and other subscriptions, an ads business — and AWS, the largest part of its profit, which rents out cloud computing.
Three segments: North America, International and AWS.
Where the money came from · net sales by type, 2025
Source: Form 10-K 2025, Net sales by groups of similar products and services
Source: Form 10-K 2025 · ratios calculated by eciffo
Growth: revenue vs. people
$19.2B → $716.9B
20,700 → 1,576,000
Calendar years. Net sales: SEC XBRL. Employees: Form 10-K (full- and part-time). Multiples calculated by eciffo.
Chief executives
President and CEO since July 2021; previously led AWS.
Founder; now Executive Chair.
Founder: Jeff Bezos.
Source: aboutamazon.com · Proxy statement 2026
Hear it from the CEO
Amazon: questions people ask
Where is Amazon's headquarters?
Seattle, Washington, with a second headquarters (HQ2) in Arlington, Virginia, whose first phase opened in 2023.
Source: aboutamazon.com · Form 10-K
How many people work at Amazon?
About 1,576,000 full- and part-time employees at the end of 2025.
Source: Form 10-K 2025
How much do Amazon software engineers make?
2026 Seattle postings list base salary of $143,700–$194,400 for SDE II and $168,100–$227,400 for Senior SDE, plus sign-on payments and RSUs.
Source: amazon.jobs
What is Amazon's parental leave?
Up to 20 weeks fully paid for birthing parents (including up to 14 weeks of pregnancy disability leave) and six weeks for non-birthing and adoptive parents.
Source: aboutamazon.com
Where did Amazon start?
In the garage of Jeff Bezos's home in Bellevue, Washington, in 1994.
Source: aboutamazon.com
What are the Amazon Spheres?
Three glass domes on Amazon's Seattle campus with more than 55,000 sq ft of planted space where employees can work. They opened in January 2018.
Source: aboutamazon.com
You have seen the office, the benefits and the pay
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See open jobs on Amazon's careers site ↗Or keep exploring: compare these benefits and offices with other companies below.
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