My town did not... : (

Amazon released the finalists for the home of their 2nd headquarters today. The list was pared from 238 towns who threw their hat in the ring.

Did your town make the list? Mine did not. : (

Here is the list:

  • Atlanta
  • Austin
  • Boston
  • Chicago
  • Columbus Ohio
  • Dallas
  • Denver
  • Indianapolis
  • Los Angeles
  • Miami
  • Montgomery County Maryland
  • Nashville
  • Newark
  • New York
  • Northern Virginia
  • Philadelphia
  • Raleigh
  • Toronto
  • Washington DC

Some fun facts about the finalists?

  • Los Angeles was the only city from the West. They choose not to include my home city of Phoenix. Amazons current headquarters is in the northwest in Seattle. Being away from that geographic area seems to make sense.
  • There was one hub outside the US. Toronto made the cut.
  • There were some cities that are not commonly associated as tech hubs. Included in that group would be Columbus, Indianapolis, Nashville and Miami
  • Most pundits are thinking an east coast hub would make the most sense. That would include: Atlanta, Boston, Miami, Newark, New York, Montgomery County, Northern Virginia, Philadelphia, Raleigh and Washington, DC. That is 10 of the 20.
  • Long shots in my book. Columbus, Denver, Indianapolis, Toronto (Trump would have a fit), Nashville.
  • Atlanta said they would create a new city with its own zip code for the headquarters called "Amazon" and would make Amazon's Jeff Bezos the mayor for life. I don't know if that is something he might like...but it is an interesting selling point.

Amazon has promised that it would create 50,000 jobs averaging more than 100,000 in annual compensation over the next 10 to 15 years.

Of course part of the bidding process was incentives and tax breaks.