The city sits astride an extensive transportation network of trains, planes and automobiles. It has six colleges and universities with a total of 60,000 students. There is prime office space available, and new apartments downtown are far less expensive than housing in New York City or even Jersey City.

According to city officials and developers, it has much of what Amazon, the retail giant, has said it wants as it searches for a place to build its second headquarters, in a national competition that has become known as HQ2.

The city is Newark.

“We have exactly what Amazon is looking for, in terms of expanding their company in a city that will help them grow and where it would have real social impact,” said Mayor Ras J. Baraka in an interview. “Newark is an opportunity to make a real statement, about what they’re trying to accomplish in the United States in the age of Trump.”

On Monday afternoon, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and Senator Cory A. Booker, the former Newark mayor, joined Mr. Baraka at Rutgers Business School, which shares its building in the city with Audible Inc., whose 1,000 employees produce and sell audio entertainment and which is owned by Amazon, to announce that Newark is the state’s official bid in the headquarters race.