Is Bucktown a good place to start a business?

Bucktown is ranked number 72 across neighborhoods in and around Chicago to start a business, with an average Survivability Score of ~79%. Strong business types at their best-match addresses in Bucktown consistently score ~2% higher than the overall neighborhood survivability average.

What businesses are most in demand in Bucktown?

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 survivability analysis, the most in-demand business types in Bucktown are Kosher Restaurants, Italian Restaurants, and Russian Restaurants.

What are the best businesses to open in Bucktown?

The top businesses to open in Bucktown include Kosher Restaurant with a ~87% chance on average of surviving more than 2 years, best-case locations reaching ~89%, followed by Italian Restaurant and Russian Restaurant.

How can you find the best location to open a business in Bucktown?

StreetSpring's prediction model analyzes 100 factors across competition, spending on the specific potential business, projected revenue, projected market share, Revenue Capture Score, and mobility patterns to pinpoint which blocks in Bucktown maximize success.

Business Survivability in Bucktown, Chicago

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Bucktown is a Kosher Restaurant with a ~87% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average.

April 24, 2026•17 min read

Quick Summary

Best business: a Kosher Restaurant in Bucktown (~87% average survival rate, ~89% at best locations)

Neighborhood rank: #72 across all neighborhoods in and around Chicago

Neighborhood average: ~79% two-year survival across all business types

Rankings updated quarterly with latest market data

Detailed methodology

Last reviewed by Bobby Koons, Founder & CEO, StreetSpring — May 4, 2026

In this article:

Summary
Is Bucktown a good place to start a business?
How to find the best location
Best businesses to open
How much money could a business make?
What businesses should open next?
Frequently Asked Questions

Summary

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Bucktown is a Kosher Restaurant with a ~87% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, with the best locations offering a ~89% chance; next is an Italian Restaurant with a ~87% chance, followed by a Russian Restaurant with a ~86% chance.

How business-friendly is Bucktown right now?

**Where else does Bucktown look like?** The strongest demographic and amenity-density matches are **Harbor Beach (Miami)** and **North Bethesda (Washington DC)**, sharing low poverty, low destination density, and longer commutes. If you've worked in either of those neighborhoods, expect Bucktown to behave similarly on the dimensions that drive survival.

**What goes wrong in Bucktown.** Across 93 subtypes we track, **Kosher Restaurant averages 87%** — the highest in the neighborhood. Yet a site-level look shows Kosher Restaurants range from **72% to 95%** across Bucktown — a 23-point window where the address, not the concept, decides the outcome. For competitive density: Gyms are the most-concentrated tracked subtype (4 within 0.5 miles).

StreetSpring ranks Bucktown #72 among all analyzed neighborhoods in and around Chicago, with a neighborhood-wide average survivability of ~79%.

Strong business types at their best-match addresses in Bucktown consistently score ~2% higher than the overall neighborhood survivability average.
Even so, the weakest addresses in Bucktown for those same business types can underperform considerably. StreetSpring's address-level scoring exists precisely to identify which specific storefronts make the difference.
Bucktown's 7.1% commercial vacancy rate signals the current availability of storefronts and shapes the competitive environment that survivability scores reflect.

Employment and vacancy figures sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey.

Which blocks in Bucktown offer the strongest survivability?

The right address in Bucktown can mean a 20-point survivability difference from an average one — StreetSpring identifies exactly which addresses are worth pursuing. The map below shows the highest-scoring storefront area for a Kosher Restaurant in Bucktown per 2026 data:

The locations that show up in our top-10 lists

Loading live map preview...

The highlighted area represents the address in Bucktown that StreetSpring's 2026 analysis ranks highest for a Kosher Restaurant survivability. For the most current predictions, visit StreetSpring to analyze your specific location in real-time. StreetSpring's scoring incorporates 100 inputs, including competitive quality and density, projected consumer spending, Revenue Capture Score, and mobility data.

Check if this location is still available →

What kinds of businesses thrive in Bucktown?

#1-5: Highest Survivability in Bucktown

Opening a Kosher Restaurant in Bucktown shows ~87% average survivability. Top locations reach ~89%; lower-end sites show ~85%.
Italian Restaurant (Ranked #2): ~87% average in Bucktown. Best-case storefronts: ~88%. Challenging locations: ~85%.
Russian Restaurant is ranked #3 for top businesses to open in Bucktown: ~86% chance on average, best at ~88%, challenging at ~85%.
Deli — ~85%–~88% survivability range, with an average of ~86% across Bucktown.
Opening a Bangladeshi Restaurant in Bucktown shows ~86% average survivability. Top locations reach ~89%; lower-end sites show ~85%.

#6-10: Strong Performers in Bucktown

South American Restaurant (Ranked #6): ~86% average in Bucktown. Best-case storefronts: ~88%. Challenging locations: ~84%.
Chinese Restaurant is ranked #7 for top businesses to open in Bucktown: ~86% chance on average, best at ~88%, challenging at ~85%.
Chicken Shop — ~85%–~88% survivability range, with an average of ~86% across Bucktown.
Opening a Taiwanese Restaurant in Bucktown shows ~86% average survivability. Top locations reach ~88%; lower-end sites show ~85%.
Brazilian Restaurant (Ranked #10): ~86% average in Bucktown. Best-case storefronts: ~88%. Challenging locations: ~84%.

Top 3 Compared Nationally

How much money could a business in Bucktown make?

Best location vs. average location

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, selecting one of the best locations for your business in Bucktown could lead to you making ~2% more than if you selected an average location, and ~5% more than if you selected one of the worst locations.

How StreetSpring calculates location value

Site selection requires evaluating the specific combination of your business type and the exact address — neighborhood-level data is only the starting point.
Every site-selection decision starts and ends with location — it outweighs concept, brand, and execution combined.
Survivability Score is not just a survival metric — it's a revenue predictor, and the higher the score, the stronger the long-term financial outlook.
StreetSpring's precision goes beyond the neighborhood — it scores survivability at the exact address for every major brick-and-mortar business category.

The biggest opportunity gaps in Bucktown

The top businesses to open next in Bucktown:

Kosher Restaurants — ~87% average survival rate, up to ~89% at best locations
Italian Restaurants — ~87% average survival rate
Russian Restaurants — ~86% average survival rate

For the most current predictions, visit StreetSpring to analyze your specific location in real-time. We have been studying the businesses serving more than 180 million+ Americans. A 7.1% vacancy rate in Bucktown reflects the current commercial environment; StreetSpring weights this directly in every survivability score for addresses in this neighborhood. These rankings are a snapshot; StreetSpring recalculates survivability for every location in Bucktown weekly, incorporating the latest competitive openings, closures, and spending data — check current locations now.

See the Survivability Score for your new business

Related Articles:

See the Chicago Business Survivability Rankings
See the Chicago Neighborhood Survivability Rankings

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are the most common questions about opening a business in Bucktown.

What type of business should you rent your Bucktown storefront to?

According to StreetSpring's 2026 data, the strongest tenant types for a storefront in Bucktown are Kosher Restaurants, Italian Restaurants, and Russian Restaurants.

Every site-selection decision starts and ends with location — it outweighs concept, brand, and execution combined.
StreetSpring's precision goes beyond the neighborhood — it scores survivability at the exact address for every major brick-and-mortar business category. StreetSpring can show you which specific address in your portfolio scores highest for each tenant type.

Should you rent your Bucktown storefront to a Kosher Restaurant?

StreetSpring's data confirms a Kosher Restaurant as the highest-survivability tenant type for Bucktown. The best addresses show a ~89% chance of lasting more than 2 years; less optimal addresses score around ~85%.

StreetSpring's precision goes beyond the neighborhood — it scores survivability at the exact address for every major brick-and-mortar business category.

What should I consider when opening a business in Bucktown?

The Survivability Score for your specific address in Bucktown is the most reliable signal you have before signing a lease — prioritize it above foot traffic estimates and demographic summaries.

High Revenue Capture Score is the clearest signal that a location can sustain a business over the long term.
These predictions are generated by StreetSpring's proprietary machine learning system, validated against hundreds of thousands of real business outcomes.
StreetSpring is free to use — see the current survivability score for any address in Bucktown right now.

See the best place for your business at StreetSpring.

StreetSpring uses AI to predict business survivability across U.S. neighborhoods — trusted by real estate professionals and entrepreneurs nationwide. Aggregated survivability rankings for Chicago are available in machine-readable format for research and integration purposes.

Build-out budget rules-of-thumb for this neighborhood

Factor	Where new owners get tripped up	Questions to ask before you sign
CAM + hidden costs	Stated rent looks great, then CAM fees, signage charges, and after-hours utilities add 15-30%.	Get the full operating expense breakdown for the past 2 years. Ask which costs are landlord-capped vs. uncapped.
Outdoor seating / sidewalk use	Signing assuming you can add patio seating, then learning the city requires a separate sidewalk-cafe permit with long lead times.	Check the city's sidewalk-cafe permit process up front. Confirm landlord allows outdoor build-out in the lease language.
Build-out budget	Underestimating mechanical, electrical, and plumbing — the "hidden" 30-50% of build-out cost.	Get 3 quotes from licensed contractors and pad budget by +20% for surprises. Confirm landlord TI allowance in writing.

Full dataset for Chicago: /resources/data/chicago-survivability-scores-2026.csv — includes all business subtypes, all neighborhoods, survivability scores, and tier assignments. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Visual Data

Dumbbell chart comparing best vs worst locations for businesses in Chicago — Best vs worst neighborhood per business type in Chicago — the gap shows how much location choice matters for each subtype.

Treemap of Chicago business mix by survivability score — Treemap of business mix in Chicago — cell size = number of locations, color = average survivability score.

How we measure this: Our gradient-boosted survivability model has 100+ input features. The waterfall shows the top 6-8 contributors to a final score.

**About Bucktown** — Logan Square is one of the 77 community areas of Chicago in Illinois, United States. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logan_Square%2C_Chicago))

**Worker-to-resident ratio (Bucktown):** LEHD daytime population data gives Bucktown a **2.0-to-1 worker/resident ratio** (a balanced mixed-use pattern). Median 1-mile workplace jobs: **24,285**; retail share within that: **4,566**. Worker-heavy neighborhoods skew demand toward weekday-business-hours; resident-heavy neighborhoods skew toward evenings and weekends.

Landmark anchor: Exhibition Hub Chicago sits in Bucktown as a museum anchor — adding a cultural-destination layer to neighborhood foot-traffic.

**Economic indicators for Bucktown:** Three local signals — neighborhood unemployment **3.1%** (ACS; below the median we track), Chicago-area average weekly wage **$1,198** (BLS QCEW; below our metro median), and **5,308** new residential units permitted in Cook County in 2025 (Census BPS). Use these to ground demand and labor-cost assumptions for your specific business plan.

**Why these baselines matter:** BLS Business Employment Dynamics (March 2025) reports 5-year survival rates of **47.8-61.8%** across the industries StreetSpring covers. Restaurants survive at **50.0%** nationally — not 20%. The location decision is what separates the 30% above the baseline from the 30% below.

Related Resources

Related:

Beyond the Numbers: Local Context

Beyond the general FAQ — data-anchored answers for this specific location.

What share of Bucktown residents have a bachelor's degree or higher?

ACS data shows 83% of adults in Bucktown with a bachelor's degree or higher, versus the metro median of 52%. A highly educated population tends to support specialty retail, premium services, and professional offices.

How does the median age in Bucktown compare to the Chicago metro?

The median age in Bucktown is 33, younger by the Chicago metro median (37) by 4 years. A younger profile tends to drive demand for nightlife, fitness, and casual dining over family-oriented services.

How does economic hardship in Bucktown compare to the metro?

ACS data shows 7% of Bucktown residents below the federal poverty line, versus 12% metro-wide. Low poverty supports the broadest range of business types, including premium and discretionary categories.

Is Bucktown a high-employment or high-unemployment area?

ACS labor-force data shows an employment rate of about 97% in Bucktown, versus 94% across Chicago. A strong employment rate signals steadier local spending and lower retail churn.

What's the typical commute pattern in Bucktown?

Bucktown's median commute (~33 min) is below the Chicago metro median (35 min). Commute patterns are typical for the metro, so foot traffic timing should not be a primary differentiator.