Amazon said Thursday it narrowed the list of potential sites for its second headquarters to 20 locations.

Amazon said it will spend $5 billion in the place where it builds its second headquarters and will employ 50,000 there. The company previously said it was looking at metropolitan areas with 1 million people and a stable, business-friendly environment.

The remaining 20 places are:

Atlanta

Austin, Texas

Boston

Chicago

Columbus, Ohio

Dallas

Denver

Indianapolis

Los Angeles

Miami

Montgomery County, Md.

Nashville, Tenn.

Newark, N.J.

New York City

Northern Virginia

Philadelphia

Pittsburgh

Raleigh, N.C.

Toronto

Washington, D.C.

The e-commerce giant received 238 proposals from cities in North America, many with lofty tax incentives and unique offers directed at CEO Jeff Bezos.

"Getting from 238 to 20 was very tough — all the proposals showed tremendous enthusiasm and creativity," Holly Sullivan, an executive with Amazon Public Policy, said in a statement.

The 20 places that are moving on in the selection process will work with Amazon over the coming months to "evaluate the feasibility of a future partnership," the company said.

Amazon expects to make a final decision this year.

An determined that the Charlotte/Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina best matched Amazon's criteria.

Among the cities that didn't make the cut was Detroit, one of the areas hit hardest by the Great Recession.