Free resource · Chicago

Free Chicago business-location research for entrepreneurs

Covering the Chicago metro, including Naperville and Elgin. No account, no paywall, nothing to buy. Built for anyone deciding where to open, and for the people who advise them.

What the Survivability Score measures

The projected chance that a specific business type lasts two or more years at a specific address.

The decision this is meant to help with

Most people choose a location on rent, on a walk-through, and on a feeling about foot traffic. Those are the things you can see standing on the sidewalk. What you cannot see is whether that block has actually supported your kind of business over time, or whether the businesses that lasted there were a different kind entirely.

That question is answerable before a lease is signed, and it is what this research covers for Chicago.

Five things the Chicago data shows

1. Location matters far more for some businesses than others

Across Chicago addresses, a middle eastern restaurant ranges from about 32% to 92% projected two-year survival, a spread of 60 percentage points. A brunch restaurant ranges from about 66% to 98%, a spread of only 32. For one of those, the address is close to the whole decision. For the other, it barely moves the answer.

This is the single most useful thing to tell someone early. It tells them how much of their energy belongs on the site search.

2. The businesses where the address decides the outcome

Business type	Projected 2-year survival across Chicago	Spread	How Chicago ranks
Middle Eastern Restaurant	32% to 92%	60 pp	#4 of 24 metros
Irish Pub	24% to 84%	60 pp	#13 of 24 metros
Tapas Restaurant	23% to 81%	58 pp	#3 of 24 metros
Thai Restaurant	27% to 85%	58 pp	#7 of 24 metros
Barbecue Restaurant	32% to 89%	57 pp	#3 of 24 metros

3. The businesses where almost anywhere in Chicago works

Business type	Projected 2-year survival across Chicago	Spread	How Chicago ranks
Brunch Restaurant	66% to 98%	32 pp	#1 of 24 metros
Veterinary Clinic	66% to 98%	32 pp	#1 of 24 metros
Hot Pot Restaurant	65% to 98%	33 pp	#1 of 24 metros
Southern Food Restaurant	65% to 98%	33 pp	#1 of 24 metros
German Restaurant	65% to 98%	33 pp	#1 of 24 metros

4. Where Chicago is a strong market compared with other metros

Business type	Projected 2-year survival across Chicago	Spread	How Chicago ranks
Vegan Vegetarian Restaurant	31% to 87%	56 pp	#1 of 24 metros
Vitamin Supplement Store	33% to 88%	55 pp	#1 of 24 metros
Burmese Restaurant	32% to 87%	55 pp	#1 of 24 metros
Discount Store	33% to 87%	54 pp	#1 of 24 metros
Cafe	33% to 86%	53 pp	#1 of 24 metros

5. The neighborhood picture

Across 86 Chicago neighborhoods, Kennedy Park is the strongest on average, at about 86% projected two-year survival, with its best locations near 90%. Irving Woods averages about 75%.

Averages hide the thing that matters. A single block can beat an entire neighborhood's ranking, and every low-ranked neighborhood contains locations that beat the metro average. Use the neighborhood view to narrow a search, not to rule an area out.

What is free here

The Chicago neighborhood breakdown, ranking every neighborhood in the metro.
Ten things to think about before you open, a short plain guide that mostly corrects common advice.
The national aggregate dataset as a CSV, covering city and business-type level results.
What the Survivability Score is, and the methodology, including what the model does and does not do.

How advisors and program staff use this

In a business-plan conversation. "Your concept is one where the address swings the odds by 60 points. Let us spend real time on the site search."
Before a lease discussion. A neighborhood-level read gives a client a specific question to ask a broker instead of a general worry.
In a workshop. The spread between the widest and narrowest business type is a five-minute segment that people remember.
In a location appendix. Lenders and landlords respond to a location section that cites something other than the applicant's optimism.

Methodology, and what this is not

The model is trained on roughly a million business outcomes and scores 500+ business types across up to five price tiers in 24 U.S. metros. Of everything it considers, the Revenue Capture Score, our own measure of projected market share against forecasted local spend, carries the most predictive weight.

Data as of 2026-08-30. Geographic scope: the Chicago metro area, 86 neighborhoods.

This is decision support, not a guarantee. A projected two-year survival figure is a probability drawn from how comparable businesses have performed at comparable locations. It does not account for the operator, the concept, the capital behind it, or the lease terms, and no location score can promise a business will succeed or predict that one will fail. Treat it as one input among several.

For chambers, EDOs, libraries, and business-support organizations

This page is free and open on purpose. If it would be useful to the people you serve, you are welcome to share it, add it to a resource list, or use it in advising. Nothing is expected in return.

Ready-to-use description

StreetSpring publishes free neighborhood-level research on how likely different business types are to last at least two years in Chicago. It covers 86 neighborhoods and 500+ business types, updates as the underlying data does, and needs no account to read.

Direct link

https://streetspring.com/partners/chicago.html

Where it tends to fit

Business Planning, Market Research, Site Selection, or Starting a Business.

Also available at no cost

A one-page Chicago PDF for a newsletter or an event handout.
A 30-minute session for your members or a training for your advising staff.
A short written piece on Chicago for your newsletter, ready to run.

Chicago organizations worth knowing

If you are starting a business here, these are the people to talk to before you talk to us:

DePaul University Library
UIC University Library
Northwestern University Library

Contact

I am Bobby, the founder. I built StreetSpring after watching good operators sign leases on blocks that had never supported their kind of business. If you want the PDF, want to book a session, or think something on this page is wrong, write to me directly.

Bobby | StreetSpring

Data as of 2026-08-30. Neighborhood figures from the live Chicago rankings; business-type figures from the published national aggregate dataset. Survivability is shown throughout as the projected chance of lasting two or more years. Aggregate results only, no address-level data.