Amazon's second headquarters: The pros and cons of the finalists

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

Amazon founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos holds the keys to a huge civic prize: the right to build the company's new 50,000-The nearly two dozen now double down to compete for a $5 billion capital investment and 50,000 new tech-oriented 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 billionThe 20 finalists met Amazon parameters that its HQ2 be in a metropolitan area with more than 1 million people, have a "stable and business-friendly environment," and be in "urban or suburban locations with the potential to attract and retain strong technical talent."

More: Amazon names top 20 finalists in second headquarters raceAnalysts 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 is not for the faint hearted.

“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.Amazon’s impact on the city.

Shulman contends that some of the cities on the list are just too small  to be able to comfortably embrace HQ2: "The last thing you want is a city going bankrupt trying to build out the roads and the utilities and the schools Amazon will need."But that concern didn't stop hundreds of cities here and in Canada and Mexico from sending Amazon highly detailed love letters. 

Many of the passed-over contenders legitimately had a shot (cue the increasingly tech-savvy state of Utah) while others were punching well above their weight (Woonsocket, R.I., is the headquarters for CVS Health but there are only 41,000 citizens in town, according to a 2010 Census).

Many of 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.

Here's a quick look at the strengths and possible drawbacks of some of the remaining HQ2 contenders: