In October, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner announced a bid to bring online retail giant Amazon to Chicago. On Jan. 18 Amazon.com released its short list of 20 regions throughout the United States and Canada that will get a closer look, and Chicago made the cut. 

Graphic courtesy of Bloomberg

Amazon reviewed the 238 proposals for the second headquarters, which includes regions throughout the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Other candidates that made the cut include Atlanta, Austin, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, Toronto, and Washington, D.C. The company will now dive deeper into each of the 20 communities to evaluate which one will accommodate the company’s hiring plans and benefits to its employees and the community.

“Amazon represents an extraordinary opportunity for Illinois to grow jobs, attract new residents, and build our tax base,” Governor Rauner said in the October announcement. “Our bid makes a powerful business case, linking our advantages in innovation, commerce, and R&D with Amazon’s aspirations for growth and talent recruitment.” 

The region to win the bid will be home to the next Amazon headquarters, not just a satellite office. There are 10 Chicago sites proposed for the headquarters. Amazon is expected to hire as many as 50,000 employees and invest more than $5 billion into the office. Not only that, but the construction of the office is expected to create tens of thousands of additional jobs in the community.

The current headquarters for Amazon is in Seattle, and it has contributed roughly $38 billion to the city’s economy over six years, according to a report by the Washington Post.

Still, there are some counterpoints to consider, such as the impact on housing costs and transportation infrastructure. The Seattle housing market is the hottest in the country, with 14 solid months of home price gains, according to S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices reported by the Seattle Times.

Amazon HQ2 rendering courtesy of Sterling Bay

According to the report, nationally home prices grew 6.2 percent in October 2017 compared with the previous year, and Seattle home prices grew 12.7 percent. Seattle has the longest streak of home price increases for any metro area in the country since 2001.

According to that same report, Chicago home prices increased 4.1 percent. That put Chicago in second-to-last place in terms of growth, right behind the 3.1 percent increase reported in Washington, D.C. Both cities made the finalist list, and two other metro areas around the nation’s capital made the cut: Montgomery County, Maryland, and Northern Virginia. Chief Economist for Moody Analytics Mark Zandi told Crain’s Chicago Business that he thinks Amazon is leaning in the direction of the Washington, D.C. area because the company already has 2,500 employees there.

City officials remain confident and hopeful that Chicago will stay in the running. Mayor Emanuel noted companies like GE Healthcare, ConAgra, and McDonald’s, which have Chicagoland headquarters, as a sign for opportunity and success. In a statement, Emanuel said that the city is prepared to compete until the very end.