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Amazon Announces 20 Finalists in HQ2 Search

Tara Bellucci
Tara BellucciNews and Culture Director
Tara is Apartment Therapy's News & Culture Director. When not scrolling through Instagram double-tapping pet pics and astrology memes, you'll find her thrift shopping around Boston, kayaking on the Charles, and trying not to buy more plants.
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updated Oct 3, 2023
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Big news from Amazon today: The online retail giant has announced that it has narrowed its second headquarters search to twenty cities.

The company received 238 proposals from cities across the US, Canada and Mexico when it revealed in September that they were looking to open a second campus to equal their Seattle headquarters. “HQ2”, as it’s nicknamed, is expected to bring 50,000 jobs and $5 billion in investment to the chosen city, but could also result in some serious downsides, like a rise in rents.

The open call prompted some over the top publicity stunts from municipalities, including Tucson, Arizona delivering a 21-foot Saguaro cactus to Seattle; Stonecrest, Georgia offered to rename itself Amazon; and Calgary in Alberta, Canada posted billboards in which it offered to fight a bear (and change its name to Calmazon or Amagary). Sadly, for these three crazy cities (and many more), their plans were for naught.

Here are the twenty cities that are on the shortlist for HQ2 (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.

Amazon expects to make a decision in 2018. Good luck to the tributes finalists.

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