# My even shorter Amazon HQ2 shortlist

By [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com) · 2018-01-18

amazon, amazon-hq2, boston, cities, city-contest, ecommerce, headquarters, miami, new-york-city, retail, tech, technology, toronto, uncategorized, urbanism, washington-d-c

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Amazon [released its shortlist of HQ2 cities](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180118005771/en/Amazon-Announces-Candidates-HQ2) this morning. Below are the 20 metropolitan areas. They were selected from 238 bids, so this shortlist represents 8.4% of the original pool.  

*   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.
    

I saw some people on Twitter say that they were surprised to see Toronto and Miami on this list. I was not. If you remember, I publicly predicted on this blog that [Toronto would be selected for Amazon HQ2](http://brandondonnelly.com/post/165100212498/my-prediction-for-amazon-hq2).

That said, I thought it would be fun to guess at an even shorter list from Amazon’s shortlist. I have no knowledge of Amazon’s actual selections process, but if I had to guess, here is who I would cross off the list:

*   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.
    

That leaves us with a list that looks like this:

1.  Boston, MA  
    
2.  Miami, FL  
    
3.  Montgomery County, MD
    
4.  Newark, NJ  
    
5.  Northern Virginia, VA  
    
6.  Toronto, ON  
    
7.  Washington D.C.
    

So why this list? I’m probably wrong, but my reasons are as follows:

\- I think Amazon will opt for a metro area on eastern time.

\- There seems to be a predilection for areas around Washington D.C., so I left Montgomery County and Northern Virginia. 

\- As wonderful as it is, New York City feels too center ice for Amazon – at least in my view. But maybe Newark places them in the catchment area.

\- The area needs to be of a certain scale so Amazon doesn’t overpower it and they have enough human capital to draw from.

\- Miami is my sleeper bet. Most people think of it simply as a resort town, but there’s a huge percentage of foreign born residents and powerful arts/design scene.

\- Talent is number one, which is why I left Boston and Toronto and why I continue to believe in Toronto. Toronto is more dynamic than Boston.

If I had to pick just three from the above shortlist, my bets would be, in alphabetical order: Boston, Toronto, and Washington D.C. What are yours?

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*Originally published on [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com/my-even-shorter-amazon-hq2-shortlist)*