Amazon is receiving up to $2.2 billion in performance-based incentives from New York City, Northern Virginia and Nashville, according to a release from the company.

The amount illustrates how local officials have tried to lure Amazon with copious incentives, but some critics have questioned whether taxpayers stand to benefit from the online retail giant's presence. In New York, local Democrats have raised concerns about cost of living increases and state tax incentives going to a large company rather than residents.

Jay Carney, Amazon's senior vice president for worldwide corporate affairs, downplayed the incentives the company will receive from the chosen cities in an interview on CNBC's Power Lunch.

"If you look at some of the proposals that were put forward by the cities that released them publicly, you can find out very quickly that incentives did not drive this process for us," Carney said. "Our number one criterion for us was the availability of existing talent and the possibility of recruiting and luring new talent to come."

Amazon ended its year-long search for its "second headquarters" with an announcement Tuesday morning.

Amazon says it's investing $5 billion and will create more than 50,000 new high-paying jobs in two new main offices in Long Island City, a neighborhood in Queens, New York; and National Landing, a neighborhood in Arlington, Virginia. It also announced a new Operations Center of Excellence in Nashville, Tenn., which it claims will create 5,000 more jobs.