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Amazon narrows list of candidate cities for HQ2 to 20

The technology giant has whittled 238 proposals down to just 20 finalists, including Pittsburgh, Miami, Denver, and Nashville.

Written by Natalie Gagliordi, Contributor Jan. 18, 2018 at 6:26 a.m. PT

Amazon has narrowed down the list of candidate cities for its coveted second headquarters, dubbed HQ2.

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The technology giant received 238 proposals from cities, states, and provinces across the US, Canada, and Mexico. Now, just 20 lucky cities are left in the running. Here's the list in alphabetical order:

Atlanta, Ga.
Austin, Texas.
Boston, Mass.
Chicago, Ill.
Columbus, Ohio
Dallas, Texas
Denver, Colo.
Indianapolis, Ind.
Los Angeles, Calif.
Miami, Fla.
Montgomery County, Md.
Nashville, Tenn.
Newark, N.J.
New York City, N.Y.
Northern Virginia, Va.
Philadelphia, Pa.
Pittsburgh, Pa.
Raleigh, N.C.
Toronto, Ontario.
Washington D.C.

"Thank you to all 238 communities that submitted proposals. Getting from 238 to 20 was very tough -- all the proposals showed tremendous enthusiasm and creativity," said Holly Sullivan, of Amazon Public Policy. "Through this process we learned about many new communities across North America that we will consider as locations for future infrastructure investment and job creation."

Over the coming months, Amazon said it will work with each of the candidate locations to further explore their proposals, gather additional information if necessary, and evaluate whether each city could accommodate the company's hiring plans.

Seattle, Wash.,-based Amazon plans to invest more than $5 billion in the construction of HQ2, creating up to 50,000 high-paying jobs for locals. The company said that HQ2 will be "a full equal to our current campus," and spur "tens of billions of dollars in additional investment in the surrounding community."

One of the cities notably left off the list of finalists is Kansas City, which was seen as a strong contender for the new headquarters. Last year, Kansas City Mayor Sly James went on a manic shopping spree and gave 1,000 Amazon products 5-star reviews -- while name-dropping Kansas City along the way.

Amazon expects to make a final decision on HQ2 sometime this year.