20 Cities in Running for Amazon HQ2

Given that Amazon's HQ1 is located in Seattle, Washington, there are not finalists in the Pacific Northwest, and only one on the West Coast. Most of the finalist cities are clustered in the East (three in the DC area!), stretching from Toronto (the only Canadian contender) down to Miami.

The full list, in alphabetical order:

• Atlanta, GA
• Austin, TX
• Boston, MA
• Chicago, IL
• Columbus, OH
• Dallas, TX
• Denver, CO
• Indianapolis, IN
• Los Angeles, CA
• Miami, FL
• Montgomery County, MD
• Nashville, TN
• Newark, NJ
• New York City, NY
• Northern Virginia, VA
• Philadelphia, PA
• Pittsburgh, PA
• Raleigh, NC
• Toronto, ON
• Washington, D.C.

Last September, Amazon invited metropolitan areas with more than one million people to respond to its RFP for HQ2. The company has stated they "expect to invest over $5 billion and grow our second headquarters location to be a full equal to Amazon’s current campus in Seattle, creating as many as 50,000 high-paying jobs." With such numbers, no wonder that many of the 238 contenders used tax breaks and other benefits to entice Amazon.

How exactly Amazon selected the 20 cities isn't clear; their website states, "We evaluated each of the proposals based on the criteria outlined in the RFP [PDF link] to create the list of 20 HQ2 candidates that will continue in the process." Amazon is expected to make a decision this year after they "will work with each of the candidate locations to dive deeper into their proposals, request additional information as necessary, and evaluate the feasibility of a future partnership that can accommodate our hiring plans as well as benefit our employees and the local community."