Site Selection magazine has named Chicago-Elgin-Naperville the top metro area for both corporate relocation and investment for the fifth year running, according to Market Watch. What makes Chicago so attractive in the corporate sphere, and what companies have made the move or plan to come to Chicago? 

Why Chicago is a Corporate Magnet 

Site Selection cited factors like affordable housing, mixed-use and transit-oriented development, a pool of top talent, and the number of sites with potential for corporate campuses as some of the reasons Chicago topped its list, according to the report. Another check in Chicago’s plus column is the upcoming $8.5 million expansion of O’Hare International Airport. 

Recent relocations and plans

So, Chicago’s a corporate hotspot. What companies is the city attracting? These are just a handful of the big name corporations making the move to Chicago from as close as Oak Brook and as far away as the U.K.

McDonald's headquarters rendering courtesy of Sterling Bay
  • McDonald’s. McDonald’s opened its Oak Brook headquarters in 1971, but in 2016 the fast food behemoth announced plans to shift its headquarters to Fulton Market. The new location is currently under construction.

Ditching the Suburbs

Companies from overseas and outside the Midwest are certainly showing interest in Chicago, but a big part of this corporate headquarters shift to the city is coming from closer to home: the suburbs. McDonald’s is just one on a big list of companies that are turning their eyes from suburban headquarters to a Chicago location.

The Chicago Tribune gathered a list of companies making the move from suburban to urban dating back all the way to 2007. The list includes more than 50 companies that came from all over the suburbs to settle predominantly in the Loop, West Loop, and River North.  

Corporate Possibilities

The trend is clear, and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Chicago has come up as possibility for some big-name tech companies. Buzz has been surrounding Amazon’s hunt for its second headquarters ever since the company made the announcement. Chicago offered up 10 potential sites and made the ecommerce company’s shortlist.  

But, the possibility of Amazon isn’t enough. Chicago hopes to land a new Apple campus — which could come with 20,000 jobs — and, Google is considering opening a new operations center in the city. Landing any three of those big tech companies’ new locations could be a big coup for Chicago.