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At last count, New York City served as the headquarters for 48 of the FORTUNE 500 corporations, more than any other city in the U.S. But 20 years ago, 138 of the largest industrial corporations called the Big Apple home. Last week Exxon said it will join the exodus by moving its corporate base to Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. The move will involve only 300 employees, since the company has already dispersed its corporate staff to other sites around the U.S. Even so, and even though RJR Nabisco will move its headquarters from Atlanta to New York City next year, the departure of the former Standard Oil of New Jersey was a blow to Big Apple boosters.

Exxon will move into a campus-like complex to be constructed in the Las Colinas development park. The company probably had the same money-saving concerns that inspired its former Manhattan neighbor J.C. Penney to move last year to Plano, another Dallas suburb. The past decade's oil bust has made Texas a good place to find cheap office space. J.C. Penney expects to save some $60 million annually by relocating. In Las Colinas Exxon should be able to rent office space for around $15 per sq. ft., in contrast to nearly $50 in midtown Manhattan. Employees will enjoy a markedly lower cost of living. The median price for a home in the Dallas area is about $94,700; it is $185,500 in the New York metropolitan region.

Gotham is not suffering alone. A chill wind rustled through Chicago this year when Sears decided to sell its landmark 110-story tower and move to new headquarters in suburban Hoffman Estates, Ill. Will the last company to leave the big city please turn out the lights?