The Best Cities for a Career in Quantitative Finance
Find out where the top quant firms, in the United States, are located.
Quantitative Finance is one of the most lucrative disciplines on Wall Street. Due to the challenging nature of their work, quants tend to have an astute educational pedigree and are known for having expertise in statistics, mathematical modeling, and computer science. If a position in quantitative finance piques your interest, you may be wondering where to find such opportunities.
In this article, I’ll outline where the quant industry resides, from a geographical perspective, and what areas you should think about living in if you would like to become a quant. Note that for this article, I’ll be focusing on quants looking to find a place to live within the United States.
Proprietary Trading Shops
Proprietary trading refers to when financial institutions engage in the purchasing of stocks, bonds, commodities, currencies, or other instruments in order to receive a direct market gain. This is often an alternative to earning a commission by trading on the behalf of other clients. Prop trading firms tend to seek out quants in order to find statistical arbitrage opportunities and in order to develop complex mathematical models that will help the firm generate alpha. Here are some of the top prop trading firms and where their HQ is located.
| Firm Name | Location | Headquarter Address |
|---|---|---|
| Renaissance Technologies | New York | 600 Route 25A. East Setauket, New York 11733 |
| Jane Street | New York | 250 Vesey Street New York, NY 10281 United States |
| Citadel Securities | Miami, FL | Southeast Financial Center 200 S. Biscayne Blvd. Miami, FL 33131 |
| IMC Trading | Chicago, IL | Willis Tower 233 South Wacker Drive, Suite 4300 Chicago, IL 60606, USA |
| Optiver | Chicago, IL | 130 East Randolph Suite 1400 Chicago, Illinois 60601 United States of America |
| Akuna Capital | Chicago, IL | Cna Center, 333 S Wabash Ave floor 26, Chicago, IL 60604 |
| DRW | Chicago, IL | 540 W Madison Street Suite 2500 Chicago IL 60661 |
| Chicago Trading Company (CTC) | Chicago, IL | 425 S. Financial Place 4th Floor Chicago, IL 60605 |
| SIG | Philadelphia, PA | 401 City Avenue Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004 |
| TransMarket Group | Chicago, IL | 550 West Jackson Blvd., Ste 1300, Chicago, IL 60661 |
| Old Mission Capital | Chicago, IL | 1 N. Dearborn Street, 8th Floor Chicago, IL 60602 |
| Five Rings | New York | 225 Liberty St. New York, NY 10281 |
| Radix Trading | Chicago, IL | 353 N Clark St STE 1600, Chicago, IL 60654 |
| 3Red Partners | Chicago, IL | 200 W Monroe St, Chicago, IL 60606 |
| XTX Markets | New York | 64th Floor, 50 Hudson Yards, New York, NY 10001, USA |
| Sunrise | Chicago, IL | 30 S Wacker Dr # 1706, Chicago, IL 60606 |
| Volant | New York | 250 Vesey St New York, NY 10281 |
| Belvedere | Chicago, IL | 10 S Riverside Plaza #2000, Chicago, IL 60606 |
| Wolverine | Chicago, IL | 175 W. Jackson Blvd. Suite 200 Chicago, IL 60604 |
| Jump Trading | Chicago, IL | 600 W Chicago Ave #825, Chicago, IL 60654 |
| Virtu Financial | New York | 1633 Broadway, 41st Floor, New York, New York 10019, US |
| Headlands | Chicago, IL | 444 W Lake St, Suite 4650, Chicago, IL 60606, US |
| HAP | New York | 395 Hudson St Suite 701, New York, New York 10014, US |
| Tower Research Capital | New York | 395 Hudson St Suite 701, New York, New York 10014, US |
| Hudson River Trading | New York | 175 Greenwich St, Floor 76, New York, NY 10007, US |
| Flow Traders | New York | 1140 Avenue of the Americas, 4thfloor, New York City, 10001, US |
Overall, proprietary trading firms tend to be concentrated in Chicago and New York, with Chicago tacking on a few more firms than New York. There are also a few of the top firms that have offices in other places like Austin Texas, and San Francisco. Citadel, for example, has decided to move its base from Chicago to Miami.
Hedge Funds
A hedge fund is involved in managing the money of a group of private investors. Their objective is to develop a series of strategies to help their investors obtain above-average investment returns. Oftentimes, quants are employed at these firms to develop statistical techniques for making investment decisions and executing trades. Here are some of the top quantitative hedge funds as well as their headquarter locations.
| Firm Name | Location | Headquarter Address |
|---|---|---|
| Citadel | Miami, FL | Southeast Financial Center 200 S. Biscayne Blvd. Miami, FL 33131 |
| Millenium | New York | 399 Park Avenue New York, NY 10022 United States |
| Two Sigma | New York | 100 Avenue of the Americas 16th Floor New York, NY 10013 |
| D.E Shaw | New York | The D. E. Shaw Group Headquarters 1166 Avenue of the Americas Ninth Floor New York, NY 10036 |
| Point 72 | Stamford, CT | 72 Cummings Point Road Stamford, CT 06902 |
| Schonfeld | New York | 590 Madison Ave, New York, 10022, US |
| Square Point Capital | New York | New York, New York 10019, US |
Unsurprisingly, the majority of quantitative hedge funds have their headquarters based out of New York rather than Chicago. New York, has long been known as the “Hedge fund capital of the world”, and that remains apparent in the table above.
Takeaway
Overall, the data suggests that both New York and Chicago are great places to find jobs in the quantitative finance industry. If you’re keen on working for a proprietary trading firm, then Chicago may likely be your best option. Conversely, if you would prefer to work at a Hedge Fund, New York may be a better option for you.
Thanks for reading this article. If you enjoyed it, feel free to check out more of our content on our quant blog. Also, if you’re looking for a job or internship as a quant check out OpenQuant for the best quant jobs.