And then there were 20.

On Thursday, Amazon released the short list of cities and other localities that are still in the running to host the online retail giants second headquarters, which its calling HQ2.

Heres the list, in alphabetical order:

• Atlanta
• Austin, Texas
• Boston
• Chicago
• Columbus, Ohio
• Dallas
• Denver
• Indianapolis
• Los Angeles
• Miami
• Montgomery County, Maryland
• Nashville
• Newark, New Jersey
• New York City
• Northern Virginia
• Philadelphia
• Pittsburgh
• Raleigh, North Carolina
• Toronto
• Washington, D.C.

The finalists were chosen from 238 original applicants representing locations across North America. While critics argue that Amazon s public bidding process amounts to a degrading race in which suitors are forced to one up each other with irresponsibly large financial incentives , the companys pledge to invest $5 billion and create 50,000 high-paying jobs at HQ2 has kept cities in the hunt.

The frenzied initial application process drove officials to pull out all the stops to catch Amazons eye. Kansas City, Missouri, mayor Sly James bought 1,000 items from Amazon (for charity) and left a five-star review for each one along with a plug for his city as the perfect HQ2. (Kansas City did not make the final 20.)

Newark dangled $7 billion in tax breaks in its bid, justifying the eye-popping figure by estimating that HQ2 could generate $9 billion in economic activity. (Newark did make the final 20.)