Is Dunning a good place to start a business?

Dunning is ranked number 44 across neighborhoods in and around Chicago to start a business, with an average Survivability Score of ~82%. The top business types in Dunning, when placed at their ideal addresses, achieve survivability rates ~2% above the neighborhood-wide average.

What businesses are most in demand in Dunning?

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 survivability analysis, the most in-demand business types in Dunning are Italian Restaurants, South American Restaurants, and Chicken Shops.

How much money could a business in Dunning make?

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, selecting one of the best locations in Dunning could lead to making ~2% more than selecting an average location, and ~3% more than one of the worst locations.

Business Survivability in Dunning, Chicago

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Dunning is an Italian Restaurant with a ~90% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average.

April 24, 2026•17 min read

Quick Summary

Best business: an Italian Restaurant in Dunning (~90% average survival rate, ~91% at best locations)

Neighborhood rank: #44 across all neighborhoods in and around Chicago

Neighborhood average: ~82% two-year survival across all business types

Rankings updated quarterly with latest market data

Detailed methodology

Last reviewed: May 1, 2026 by Bobby Koons, Founder & CEO, StreetSpring

In this article:

Summary
Is Dunning 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 Dunning is an Italian Restaurant with a ~90% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, with the best locations offering a ~91% chance; next is a South American Restaurant with a ~89% chance, followed by a Chicken Shop with a ~89% chance.

What does the data say about opening in Dunning?

**Where else does Dunning look like?** The strongest demographic and amenity-density matches are **Mayfair (Chicago)** and **Rockport (Boston)**, sharing longer commutes, few anchor tenants, and older housing stock. If you've worked in either of those neighborhoods, expect Dunning to behave similarly on the dimensions that drive survival.

**What goes wrong in Dunning.** Across 93 subtypes we track, **South American Restaurant averages 89%** — the highest in the neighborhood. Yet a site-level look shows South American Restaurants range from **72% to 97%** across Dunning — a 25-point window where the address, not the concept, decides the outcome. For competitive density: Filipino Restaurants are the most-concentrated tracked subtype (2 within 0.5 miles).

Across all neighborhoods in and around Chicago, StreetSpring's data places Dunning at #44 with a ~82% average Survivability Score.

The top business types in Dunning, when placed at their ideal addresses, achieve survivability rates ~2% above the neighborhood-wide average.
However, those high-scoring categories placed at the least-competitive addresses in Dunning often fall well below average. Picking the right block — not just the right neighborhood — is what actually determines survivability.
With a 95.8% employment rate, Dunning has the consumer spending foundation that supports a range of brick-and-mortar business types.

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

Where in Dunning should you open a business?

StreetSpring scores survivability at the exact address level in Dunning — so you can compare two storefronts on the same block before committing to a lease. This is the address StreetSpring's 2026 analysis recommends most strongly for an Italian Restaurant in Dunning:

Why the right block matters more than the right neighborhood

Loading live map preview...

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, this circle covers the best storefront area for an Italian Restaurant in Dunning. Market conditions, new competitors, and local spending patterns can change rapidly — always verify with StreetSpring's live tool before signing a lease. StreetSpring's prediction model analyzes 100 factors across competition, spending on the specific potential business, projected revenue, projected market share, Revenue Capture Score, mobility patterns, and many more.

Check if this location is still available →

What are the best businesses to open in Dunning?

#1-5: Highest Survivability in Dunning

Italian Restaurant is ranked #1 for top businesses to open in Dunning: ~90% chance on average, best at ~91%, challenging at ~88%.
South American Restaurant — ~87%–~91% survivability range, with an average of ~89% across Dunning.
Opening a Chicken Shop in Dunning shows ~89% average survivability. Top locations reach ~91%; lower-end sites show ~88%.
French Restaurant (Ranked #4): ~89% average in Dunning. Best-case storefronts: ~91%. Challenging locations: ~88%.
Taiwanese Restaurant is ranked #5 for top businesses to open in Dunning: ~89% chance on average, best at ~91%, challenging at ~88%.

#6-10: Strong Performers in Dunning

Bangladeshi Restaurant — ~88%–~91% survivability range, with an average of ~89% across Dunning.
Opening a Chinese Restaurant in Dunning shows ~89% average survivability. Top locations reach ~91%; lower-end sites show ~88%.
Brazilian Restaurant (Ranked #8): ~89% average in Dunning. Best-case storefronts: ~92%. Challenging locations: ~87%.
Hungarian Restaurant is ranked #9 for top businesses to open in Dunning: ~89% chance on average, best at ~91%, challenging at ~88%.
Filipino Restaurant — ~87%–~91% survivability range, with an average of ~89% across Dunning.

Top 3 Compared Nationally

Chicken Shop — See how this compares to other cities →

What revenue can a Dunning business expect?

Best location vs. average location

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, choosing an address that maximizes your Revenue Capture Score in Dunning could lead to you making ~2% more than if you selected an average location, and ~3% 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.
Businesses in high-scoring locations consistently outperform those in average or low-scoring sites.
No other tool calculates survivability at the storefront level across 700+ business types the way StreetSpring does.

What businesses should open next in Dunning?

The top businesses to open next in Dunning:

Italian Restaurants — ~90% average survival rate, up to ~91% at best locations
South American Restaurants — ~89% average survival rate
Chicken Shops — ~89% average survival rate

Market conditions, new competitors, and local spending patterns can change rapidly — always verify with StreetSpring's live tool before signing a lease. We have been studying the businesses serving more than 180 million+ Americans. The survivability rankings for Dunning are grounded in real economic conditions: 95.8% employment and 3.8% vacancy are among the key inputs that separate high-scoring locations from low-scoring ones here. Survivability scores are recalculated weekly as new competitors open and spending patterns shift — visit StreetSpring to see the current score for any open location in Dunning right 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 Dunning.

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

Our 2026 survivability data for Dunning shows that Italian Restaurants, South American Restaurants, and Chicken Shops rank as the top tenant categories for minimizing vacancy risk.

Site selection is the highest-leverage decision most entrepreneurs make — it sets every other variable in motion.
No other tool calculates survivability at the storefront level across 700+ business types the way StreetSpring does. Rather than guessing which tenant type will last, landlords can verify survivability for each category at their exact address using StreetSpring.

Should you rent your Dunning storefront to an Italian Restaurant?

StreetSpring's data confirms an Italian Restaurant as the highest-survivability tenant type for Dunning. The best addresses show a ~91% chance of lasting more than 2 years; less optimal addresses score around ~88%.

No other tool calculates survivability at the storefront level across 700+ business types the way StreetSpring does.

What should I consider when opening a business in Dunning?

In Dunning, the single most important factor in your site-selection decision is the Survivability Score of the specific address you're evaluating.

Revenue Capture is where competition meets spending — and it's the number that matters most when choosing a location.
StreetSpring uses its own proprietary forecasting tools to identify the Revenue Capture Score for each unique business.
No subscription required: access the current survivability score for any Dunning address through StreetSpring's free tool.

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.

The hidden costs of operating in this neighborhood

Consideration	Common pitfall	What to verify before signing
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.
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.
Competitor density	Counting only direct competitors and missing adjacent-category overlap (e.g. coffee shop near a bakery).	Map all businesses serving overlapping customer needs within a 5-min walk. Use StreetSpring's competitor view as a starting point.

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

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

Radar chart of business-subtype survivability in Dunning, Chicago — Top business types scored in Dunning, Chicago — each axis is a subtype, taller = stronger survival rate.

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.

How we measure this: Annual rent / estimated annual revenue = rent burden ratio. Industry rule of thumb: above 12% is uncomfortable, above 18% is fatal.

**Dunning at a glance.** Dunning is one of the 77 community areas of Chicago, Illinois, United States. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%2C_Chicago))

**Daytime population context (Dunning):** Per US Census LEHD LODES, the median 1-mile workplace-jobs population within Dunning is **8,059** — about **0.3× the resident population**, which qualifies as a primarily-residential neighborhood with minimal daytime worker traffic. Retail-sector jobs in that radius: **2,183**. This shapes which business models have a natural demand floor here.

Landmark anchor: Dunning centers on Kids Yard Play Ground — a public-space anchor that influences walking and dwell-time patterns nearby.

**Dunning economic snapshot:** ACS reports neighborhood unemployment at **4.2%** (below the 24-metro neighborhood median we track). The Chicago metro's BLS QCEW average weekly wage is **$1,198** (below our metro median), and the Census Bureau's Building Permits Survey logged **5,308** new residential permits in Cook County in 2025 — useful triangulation for population-growth and labor-cost assumptions in this neighborhood.

**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

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