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

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 Chatham maximize success.

Is Chatham a good place to start a business?

Chatham is ranked number 56 across neighborhoods in and around Chicago to start a business, with an average Survivability Score of ~81%. Best-case locations for the top business types in Chatham produce survivability scores ~2% above the neighborhood-wide average.

How much money could a business in Chatham make?

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, selecting one of the best locations in Chatham could lead to making ~2% more than selecting an average location, and ~5% more than one of the worst locations.

What are the best businesses to open in Chatham?

The top businesses to open in Chatham include Kosher Restaurant with a ~89% chance on average of surviving more than 2 years, best-case locations reaching ~91%, followed by Italian Restaurant and Filipino Restaurant.

What businesses are most in demand in Chatham?

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

Business Survivability in Chatham, Chicago

Q: How does income in Chatham compare to the rest of Chicago?

Chatham's median household income (~$66K) is below the Chicago metro median (~$103K) by approximately $37K. Lower median income tends to favor value-oriented retail, fast-casual food, and necessity-driven services.

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Chatham is a Kosher Restaurant with a ~89% 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 Chatham (~89% average survival rate, ~91% at best locations)

Neighborhood rank: #56 across all neighborhoods in and around Chicago

Neighborhood average: ~81% two-year survival across all business types

Rankings updated quarterly with latest market data

Detailed methodology

Reviewed: April 30, 2026 by Bobby Koons, StreetSpring founder

In this article:

Summary
Is Chatham 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 Chatham is a Kosher Restaurant with a ~89% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, with the best locations offering a ~91% chance; next is an Italian Restaurant with a ~89% chance, followed by a Filipino Restaurant with a ~89% chance.

Is Chatham the right neighborhood for a new business?

**Pattern match:** Chatham's neighborhood signature — captured across demographic, employment, and amenity features — most closely matches **West Humboldt Park (Chicago)** and **Germantown East (Philadelphia)**. The three share low high-earner share, blue-collar job mix, and longer commutes, which helps explain why business types that succeed in those areas tend to translate to Chatham.

**The pattern in Chatham.** Of 93 tracked subtypes, Filipino Restaurant leads at **89% average survivability** — yet within the neighborhood, sites for this subtype range **70-96%** (26-point spread). That spread is the real failure surface: pick the wrong block in Chatham and a top-subtype play still scores in the bottom quartile. Meanwhile Gyms are already saturated here — 3 competitors within a 0.5-mile radius.

StreetSpring's analysis places Chatham at #56 in Chicago for new business survival odds, with a neighborhood-wide average of ~81%.

Best-case locations for the top business types in Chatham produce survivability scores ~2% above the neighborhood-wide average.
But at poorly chosen addresses within Chatham, even the top-ranked business types can fall well below the neighborhood average. Location selection remains critical — a promising concept at the wrong spot still carries significant risk.
StreetSpring's model incorporates Chatham's 15.3% vacancy rate as a direct input: higher vacancy concentrations suppress foot traffic and reduce survivability for nearby businesses.

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

Pinpointing the best locations within Chatham

Rather than relying on neighborhood averages, StreetSpring's scoring tells you which specific addresses in Chatham give your concept the best odds of survival. Of all available storefronts analyzed in Chatham, StreetSpring ranks this area highest for a Kosher Restaurant in 2026:

Why the right block matters more than the right neighborhood

Loading live map preview...

This map shows the optimal location for a Kosher Restaurant in Chatham based on StreetSpring's 2026 survivability analysis. Competition and spending patterns shift constantly; StreetSpring's live tool reflects the most current conditions for any specific address. The prediction model incorporates 100 location-specific factors, including competitive density, forecasted consumer spending, mobility patterns, and Revenue Capture Score.

Check if this location is still available →

Which business types have the highest survivability in Chatham?

#1-5: Highest Survivability in Chatham

Opening a Kosher Restaurant in Chatham shows ~89% average survivability. Top locations reach ~91%; lower-end sites show ~87%.
Italian Restaurant (Ranked #2): ~89% average in Chatham. Best-case storefronts: ~91%. Challenging locations: ~88%.
Filipino Restaurant is ranked #3 for top businesses to open in Chatham: ~89% chance on average, best at ~91%, challenging at ~87%.
Pet Grooming Shop — ~87%–~91% survivability range, with an average of ~89% across Chatham.
Opening a Singaporean Restaurant in Chatham shows ~89% average survivability. Top locations reach ~91%; lower-end sites show ~88%.

#6-10: Strong Performers in Chatham

American Restaurant (Ranked #6): ~89% average in Chatham. Best-case storefronts: ~90%. Challenging locations: ~87%.
Indonesian Restaurant is ranked #7 for top businesses to open in Chatham: ~89% chance on average, best at ~91%, challenging at ~87%.
Ukrainian Restaurant — ~86%–~91% survivability range, with an average of ~89% across Chatham.
Opening a Diner in Chatham shows ~89% average survivability. Top locations reach ~91%; lower-end sites show ~87%.
Chicken Shop (Ranked #10): ~89% average in Chatham. Best-case storefronts: ~91%. Challenging locations: ~87%.

Top 3 Compared Nationally

Filipino Restaurant — See how this compares to other cities →

The revenue potential of a Chatham location

Best location vs. average location

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, securing a location with maximum Revenue Capture potential in Chatham 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

However, each business concept should be evaluated for fit within each potential location.
Site selection is the highest-leverage decision most entrepreneurs make — it sets every other variable in motion.
StreetSpring's analysis shows that businesses in top-scoring locations generate meaningfully more revenue and stay open longer than those in average locations.
Our address-level scoring shows the exact survivability odds for over 700 business types at any given storefront.

What Chatham needs more of (per our model)

The top businesses to open next in Chatham:

Kosher Restaurants — ~89% average survival rate, up to ~91% at best locations
Italian Restaurants — ~89% average survival rate
Filipino Restaurants — ~89% average survival rate

Competition and spending patterns shift constantly; StreetSpring's live tool reflects the most current conditions for any specific address. Our platform incorporates data from thousands of neighborhoods nationwide. The 78.2% employment rate in Chatham is a key signal of consumer health; when combined with the 15.3% vacancy rate, it produces a competitive landscape that favors the business types ranked above. The data behind these rankings is updated weekly, so the best available storefront in Chatham today may score differently than it did last month — check StreetSpring's live tool for the current picture.

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 Chatham.

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

Based on 2026 survivability scores across all business types in Chatham, the top three tenant categories for landlords are Kosher Restaurants, Italian Restaurants, and Filipino Restaurants.

Site selection is the highest-leverage decision most entrepreneurs make — it sets every other variable in motion.
Our address-level scoring shows the exact survivability odds for over 700 business types at any given storefront. Landlords can use StreetSpring to match their exact address to the tenant types most likely to stay open and paying rent for 2+ years.

Should you rent your Chatham storefront to a Kosher Restaurant?

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, a Kosher Restaurant ranks as the top tenant type for your Chatham storefront — best-case locations show a ~91% survival rate, while the most challenging addresses drop to ~87%.

Our address-level scoring shows the exact survivability odds for over 700 business types at any given storefront.

What should I consider when opening a business in Chatham?

When evaluating potential locations in Chatham, start with the Survivability Score. It accounts for competition, spending, mobility, and market share in a single figure.

Revenue Capture Score is what separates locations that look similar on the surface but produce dramatically different business outcomes.
Every survivability score is produced by StreetSpring's private prediction engine — not available through any other platform.
StreetSpring's live scoring tool is free: enter any address in Chatham to see its current Survivability Score for your business type.

See the best place for your business at StreetSpring.

Powered by machine learning models trained on real business outcomes, StreetSpring delivers actionable insights. 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
Permits & licensing	Assuming a 30-day permit timeline, hitting 90+ days, paying rent on a non-operating storefront.	Call the local zoning office before signing. Confirm your use is already permitted; if not, factor a 2-3 month variance timeline.
Workforce availability	Hiring radius is smaller than you think — many neighborhoods can't staff a full team at standard wages.	Pull BLS wage data for your industry in this metro. Walk through your staffing plan with a local restaurant/retail operator before signing.
Lease term	Locking into 7-10 years without break clauses, then needing to relocate after year 2.	Negotiate a relocation or termination clause. Confirm assignment + sublease rights are 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

Bubble chart of business subtypes in Chicago by survivability score and location density — Every business subtype in Chicago plotted by score vs location count — bubble size shows market depth.

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.

How we measure this: Most retail competition operates within a 500-meter radius — outside that, behavioral economics show customers don't routinely switch.

**Neighborhood context.** Chatham is one of the 77 community areas of Chicago in Illinois, United States. It is located on the city's South Side. Source: [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatham%2C_Chicago).

**LEHD demand-pattern signal (Chatham):** Median 1-mile workplace jobs across Chatham: **2,945** (LEHD LODES 2022). That works out to a **0.2:1 daytime-to-resident ratio** — a primarily-residential neighborhood with minimal daytime worker traffic. Of those workplace jobs, **561** are retail-sector. Use this to gauge whether your concept is weekday-commuter-driven or evening-and-weekend-driven.

Landmark anchor: Cole (Nat King) Park anchors Chatham's green-space backbone and shapes the neighborhood's foot-traffic patterns.

**Local economic context (Chatham, Chicago):** Chatham's ACS unemployment rate is **21.8%** (above the 24-metro neighborhood median). County-level data adds two more anchors: BLS QCEW reports Chicago-area average weekly wage of **$1,198** (below our 24-metro median), and the Census Bureau Building Permits Survey logged **5,308** new residential units in Cook County in 2025 — a rough proxy for the local growth environment a new business is opening into.

**National benchmark:** Per BLS Business Employment Dynamics (March 2025), 5-year survival rates for StreetSpring's tracked industries span **47.8-61.8%**. Restaurants — the most-studied of these — survive at **50.0%** nationally, not the often-cited "80% fail" myth. The real risk premium is at the location level, which is what StreetSpring's model isolates.

Related Resources

Related:

Beyond the Numbers: Local Context

Further questions, with answers anchored on this neighborhood's actual data.

How does Chatham's commute profile affect retail demand?

ACS data puts the median commute at ~38 minutes in Chatham, compared to 35 minutes metro-wide. Commute patterns are typical for the metro, so foot traffic timing should not be a primary differentiator.

What does household composition look like in Chatham?

ACS data puts average household size in Chatham at 2.2, compared to 2.3 across Chicago. Household composition is close to the metro average.

How does income in Chatham compare to the rest of Chicago?

Chatham's median household income (~~$66K) is below the Chicago metro median (~~$103K) by approximately $37K. Lower median income tends to favor value-oriented retail, fast-casual food, and necessity-driven services.

How does Chicago's survivability compare to national sector averages?

Per BLS Business Employment Dynamics (March 2025), 5-year survival rates by sector range from 47.8% (Active Life — gyms, studios) to 61.8% (Health & Medical), with Restaurants at 50% and Retail at 47.9%. Chicago-specific factors layer on top of these national baselines.