The city of Tracy, California, is flanked by clusters of warehouses on its east and west sides. The names on the buildings are familiar: Amazon, Costco, FedEx, Safeway, Crate and Barrel and others.

Located in California's Central Valley, Tracy's proximity to the San Francisco Bay Area has turned it into a prime spot for distribution hubs, and it's not alone.

With the boom in e-commerce and online shopping, companies have flocked to areas like the Central Valley, the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania, central New Jersey and Dallas, Texas, to build their distribution and fulfillment centers. All these regions are close to major metropolitan areas and major roadways. For the residents of these regions, it means new job opportunities as an entire industry around e-commerce takes shape.

Tracy Mayor Robert Rickman said the benefits of this boom are widespread.

"The people who come to our jobs here in Tracy are not just from Tracy, but all throughout the region, and it increases our daytime population and in turn attracts other businesses here – restaurants, retail and commercial," Rickman said. "It's a trickling effect."

Tracy is close to major highways, the Port of Oakland and a nearby airport, making it an ideal location for e-commerce facilities, Rickman said. "The distribution centers and fulfillment centers can ship their goods pretty much anywhere from here in a very short amount of time."