CHICAGO—When Amazon requested that cities put together proposals for a future second headquarters, dubbed HQ2, that will complement its Seattle hub, one of the first criteria mentioned was that the metropolitan area must contain at least one million people. By that measure, however, more than 50 US cities are eligible. Many observers feel a much smaller group of metros have the true inside track, and Chicago is one of the likely frontrunners. But Amazon probably had a good reason for putting out the call to so many locales.

“The statistics, data and research on these cities is incredibly expensive and time consuming to produce,” Emily Line, vice president of commercial services for Realtors Property Resource, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Association of REALTORS, tells GlobeSt.com. But through these efforts, Amazon will soon have a free library of data on all of these areas. And although many cities don't have much of a shot at securing HQ2, which the Seattle-based giant says will host up to 50,000 employees and cost $5 billion, they could benefit later on as the company establishes other smaller outposts.

What qualities should land Chicago at or near the top of Amazon's list? Line says the same qualities that brought in companies such as Motorola Solutions, Caterpillar, Boeing and McDonald's. “The success these major businesses have found has to be encouraging to Amazon.” The city has definitely proven it has a critical mass of young talent, perhaps the most important factor, along with walkable office submarkets like the West Loop, and a cost of living that compares very favorably with the nation's coastal cities.