For one city on this map, Amazon will drastically change everything

SAN FRANCISCO – The East Coast bested the West Coast in Amazon’s second-headquarters sweepstakes.

The online retailing giant announced the finalists for its so-called HQ2 on Thursday, a surprisingly long list of 20 cities and states culled from an unwieldy 238 that began the process.

The nearly two dozen now double down to compete for a $5 billion capital investment and 50,000 new techoriented jobs.

But that’s not all. By Amazon’s own calculations based on the impact its Seattle HQ had on that city between 2010 and 2016, the new headquarters promises to add $38 billion to the local economy, create 53,000 non-Amazon jobs and boost the personal income of non-Amazon employees by $17 billion.

The 20 finalists met Amazon parameters that its HQ2 be in a metropolitan area with more than 1 million people, have a “stable and businessfriendly environment” and be in “urban or suburban locations with the potential to attract and retain strong technical talent.”

Analysts forecast the most successful city would need to have at least 4 million residents to reach the scale Amazon sought and draw the required software talent it needs.

Some caution that having Amazon plunk itself down in your city can come at a cost.

“In the short term, they’re going to need tech talent and the cultural amenities to attract them, but in the long run they’re going to need room to grow, the infrastructure to move people around the cities and places where they can afford to live,” says Jeffrey Shulman, professor of marketing at the University of Washington in Seattle who’s studied Amazon’s impact on the city.

The successful finalists appeared to sell Amazon on a winning combination of available talent (particularly in the software/IT space), infrastructure (otherwise adding 50,000 new employees could spell gridlock), community vibe (presumably one that jibes with its Pacific Northwest roots) and financial incentives.