Indianapolis makes top 20 list for Amazon headquarters

By: Melissa Hudson

Posted: Jan 18, 2018 10:54 AM EDT

By Kaya Yurieff and Seth Fiegerman

(CNN Money) -- Amazon has released a "short" list of cities it's considering for its second headquarters.

But the list isn't exactly short. The 20 potential cities include:

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 year, Amazon received bids from 238 cities and regions from across 54 states, provinces, districts and territories across North America. The company said it would make a decision in 2018.

Called HQ2, the new facility will cost at least $5 billion to construct and operate, and will create as many as 50,000 high-paying jobs.

"Getting from 238 to 20 was very tough - all the proposals showed tremendous enthusiasm and creativity," Holly Sullivan of Amazon Public Policy said in a statement. "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."

Amazon said it evaluated each of the bids based on the criteria it previously outlined, such as proximity to a major airport, ability to attract tech talent and a suburban or urban area with more than 1 million people.

"We are thrilled to see Indianapolis on the list of finalists for Amazon’s second headquarters. It speaks to Indiana’s growing reputation on the world stage as a great state to locate and grow a business. We look forward to working with the central Indiana region and Amazon as they continue to narrow their list of potential sites for HQ2," Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb said in a statement.

In the coming months, the company said it will work with each of the locations to "dive deeper" into their proposals, obtain more information and evaluate how the city could accommodate Amazon's hiring plans and benefit its workers and the local community.

Baird analyst Colin Sebastian said he is surprised that cities without major airport hubs -- such as Columbus and Nashville -- are on the list, considering it was one of Amazon's main asks.

"Otherwise, there are not too many surprises here," he told CNN Tech. "However, I'm a bit surprised Houston, Detroit and Minneapolis are not on the list. Their proposals may have simply fallen short."

Cities made splashy attempts to attract the company's attention. For example, Tuscon, Arizona sent a giant cactus to CEO Jeff Bezos and Stonecrest, Georgia offered to de-annex some of its land and rename it the city of Amazon.

Meanwhile, Kansas City Mayor Sly James gave five-star reviews to 1,000 random items on Amazon's website, which tied in the city's strengths into each post.

Amazon has said the second headquarters would be a "full equal" to its Seattle campus. The tech giant estimates its investments in Seattle from 2010 through 2016 resulted in an extra $38 billion to the city's economy.