Business Survivability in East Pilsen, Chicago
StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in East Pilsen is an Indonesian Restaurant with a ~88% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average.
Quick Summary
- Best business: an Indonesian Restaurant in East Pilsen (~88% average survival rate, ~90% at best locations)
- Neighborhood rank: #71 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
Reviewed and updated: May 12, 2026 — Bobby Koons, Founder & CEO, StreetSpring
In this article:
- Summary
- Is East Pilsen 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 East Pilsen is an Indonesian Restaurant with a ~88% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, with the best locations offering a ~90% chance; next is an American Restaurant with a ~88% chance, followed by a Filipino Restaurant with a ~87% chance.
Is East Pilsen a good place to start a business?
Across all neighborhoods in and around Chicago, StreetSpring's data places East Pilsen at #71 with a ~79% average Survivability Score.
- The top business types in East Pilsen, when placed at their ideal addresses, achieve survivability rates ~2% above the neighborhood-wide average.
- However, those same business types at the weakest addresses in East Pilsen can score considerably below average. Even the most in-demand concept in East Pilsen will struggle if it opens at the wrong address.
- The 8.8% commercial vacancy rate in East Pilsen is a leading indicator of the neighborhood's business health; StreetSpring factors this directly into each business type's survivability score.
Employment and vacancy figures sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey.
How to choose a specific location in East Pilsen
StreetSpring scores survivability at the exact address level in East Pilsen — so you can compare two storefronts on the same block before committing to a lease. According to StreetSpring's 2026 data, this is the optimal address for an Indonesian Restaurant in East Pilsen:
Why the right block matters more than the right neighborhood
Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis of 100 location-specific factors, this area offers the highest projected survivability for an Indonesian Restaurant in East Pilsen. For the most current predictions, visit StreetSpring to analyze your specific location in real-time. Factors evaluated include competition at every distance band, consumer spending forecasts, mobility patterns, and market share projections.
Check if this location is still available →
The strongest business categories for East Pilsen
#1-5: Highest Survivability in East Pilsen
- Indonesian Restaurant (Ranked #1): ~88% average in East Pilsen. Best-case storefronts: ~90%. Challenging locations: ~87%.
- American Restaurant is ranked #2 for top businesses to open in East Pilsen: ~88% chance on average, best at ~89%, challenging at ~86%.
- Filipino Restaurant — ~86%–~89% survivability range, with an average of ~87% across East Pilsen.
- Opening a Kosher Restaurant in East Pilsen shows ~87% average survivability. Top locations reach ~89%; lower-end sites show ~85%.
- Ukrainian Restaurant (Ranked #5): ~87% average in East Pilsen. Best-case storefronts: ~90%. Challenging locations: ~85%.
#6-10: Strong Performers in East Pilsen
- African Restaurant is ranked #6 for top businesses to open in East Pilsen: ~87% chance on average, best at ~88%, challenging at ~86%.
- Salad Shop — ~85%–~89% survivability range, with an average of ~87% across East Pilsen.
- Opening a Diner in East Pilsen shows ~87% average survivability. Top locations reach ~89%; lower-end sites show ~85%.
- French Restaurant (Ranked #9): ~87% average in East Pilsen. Best-case storefronts: ~89%. Challenging locations: ~85%.
- Brunch Restaurant is ranked #10 for top businesses to open in East Pilsen: ~87% chance on average, best at ~89%, challenging at ~85%.
Top 3 Compared Nationally
- American Restaurant — See how this compares to other cities →
- Filipino Restaurant — See how this compares to other cities →
What revenue can a East Pilsen business expect?
Best location vs. average location
Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, picking the highest-scoring storefront in the neighborhood in East Pilsen could lead to you making ~2% more than if you selected an average location, and ~4% 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.
- Location is the single strongest predictor of whether a business thrives or fails.
- StreetSpring has found that selecting the location with the highest survivability score for a business is the best way to maximize the amount of money you will make.
- Our address-level scoring shows the exact survivability odds for over 700 business types at any given storefront.
What East Pilsen needs more of (per our model)
The top businesses to open next in East Pilsen:
- Indonesian Restaurants — ~88% average survival rate, up to ~90% at best locations
- American Restaurants — ~88% average survival rate
- Filipino Restaurants — ~87% average survival rate
For the most current predictions, visit StreetSpring to analyze your specific location in real-time. Our training data spans 130+ business types across 24 major metros, giving our models the breadth to predict outcomes across nearly any commercial concept. A 8.8% vacancy rate in East Pilsen reflects the current commercial environment; StreetSpring weights this directly in every survivability score for addresses in this neighborhood. StreetSpring updates survivability scores for available locations weekly — check the live tool now to see which storefronts in East Pilsen are currently available and how they score.
See the Survivability Score for your new business
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Frequently Asked Questions
Here are the most common questions about opening a business in East Pilsen.
What type of business should you rent your East Pilsen storefront to?
Our 2026 survivability data for East Pilsen shows that Indonesian Restaurants, American Restaurants, and Filipino Restaurants rank as the top tenant categories for minimizing vacancy risk.
- Location is the single strongest predictor of whether a business thrives or fails.
- Our address-level scoring shows the exact survivability odds for over 700 business types at any given storefront. StreetSpring's free tool lets you check the survivability score for any business type at any address in East Pilsen — a powerful filter when evaluating prospective tenants.
Related: See How Landlord Representatives in Chicago Can Reduce Vacancy & Increase Tenant Longevity
Should you rent your East Pilsen storefront to an Indonesian Restaurant?
Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, an Indonesian Restaurant ranks as the top tenant type for your East Pilsen storefront — best-case locations show a ~90% 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 East Pilsen?
When evaluating potential locations in East Pilsen, start with the Survivability Score. It accounts for competition, spending, mobility, and market share in a single figure.
- The Revenue Capture Score at a specific address explains more about likely business success than any other available metric.
- Each forecast is specific to the exact address and business type, generated by StreetSpring's internally developed prediction engine.
- StreetSpring is free to use — see the current survivability score for any address in East Pilsen right now.
See the best place for your business at StreetSpring.
Using predictive analytics, StreetSpring helps entrepreneurs and landlords make smarter location decisions. Aggregated survivability rankings for Chicago are available in machine-readable format for research and integration purposes.
Permits, licensing, and zoning specifics worth flagging
| Area to check | What can go wrong | How to de-risk it |
|---|---|---|
| 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. |
| Permitted hours | Late-night or early-morning ops blocked by zoning, neighborhood association, or shared-wall restrictions. | Confirm the permitted hours-of-operation are in your lease AND in the local code. Pull recent variances or complaints from the zoning portal. |
| 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. |
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
Related Resources
Related:
Related:
- Business Survivability in Adair Park, Atlanta
- Business Survivability in Ansley Park, Atlanta
- Business Survivability in Ardmore, Atlanta
Local Context FAQ
More questions answered with neighborhood-specific data from our 2026 corpus.
What's the national survival baseline for businesses by sector?
BLS publishes 5-year cohort survival rates by industry. For sectors StreetSpring covers, the range is 47.8-61.8% — Active Life low, Health & Medical high, Restaurants and Retail in the middle around 47.9-50%. Location-specific factors drive most of the variance around these baselines.
Does ownership stability in East Pilsen support steady local spending?
34% of East Pilsen households own their home, against 45% across the Chicago metro. A higher renter share often means more population turnover; quick-service food, fitness, and convenience tend to do well in such environments.
What's the local customer base size in East Pilsen?
Approximately 3.1K people live in East Pilsen, which puts it in the smaller-population tier among Chicago neighborhoods. A smaller resident base means destination-pull or commuter capture matters more than walk-in traffic alone.