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

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 Edgewater maximize success.

What are the best businesses to open in Edgewater?

The top businesses to open in Edgewater include Kosher Restaurant with a ~91% chance on average of surviving more than 2 years, best-case locations reaching ~93%, followed by Italian Restaurant and Indonesian Restaurant.

How much money could a business in Edgewater make?

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

What businesses are most in demand in Edgewater?

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

Business Survivability in Edgewater, Chicago

Q: Does Edgewater's income profile support new business openings?

Edgewater's median household income (~$93K) is below the Chicago metro median (~$103K) by approximately $10K. Income is close to the metro median, so business-type fit depends more on local demographics and competition.

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Edgewater is a Kosher Restaurant with a ~91% 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 Edgewater (~91% average survival rate, ~93% at best locations)

Neighborhood rank: #25 across all neighborhoods in and around Chicago

Neighborhood average: ~83% two-year survival across all business types

Rankings updated quarterly with latest market data

Detailed methodology

Reviewed: May 9, 2026 by Bobby Koons, StreetSpring founder

In this article:

Summary
Is Edgewater 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 Edgewater is a Kosher Restaurant with a ~91% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, with the best locations offering a ~93% chance; next is an Italian Restaurant with a ~91% chance, followed by an Indonesian Restaurant with a ~91% chance.

Is Edgewater a good place to start a business?

**Where else does Edgewater look like?** The strongest demographic and amenity-density matches are **Kelvin Park (Chicago)** and **Weequahic (New York City)**, sharing longer commutes, low destination density, and few anchor tenants. If you've worked in either of those neighborhoods, expect Edgewater to behave similarly on the dimensions that drive survival.

**What goes wrong in Edgewater.** Across 93 subtypes we track, **Italian Restaurant averages 91%** — the highest in the neighborhood. Yet a site-level look shows Italian Restaurants range from **66% to 95%** across Edgewater — a 29-point window where the address, not the concept, decides the outcome. For competitive density: Kosher Restaurants are the most-concentrated tracked subtype (2 within 0.5 miles).

Across all neighborhoods in and around Chicago, StreetSpring's data places Edgewater at #25 with a ~83% average Survivability Score.

Strong business types at their best-match addresses in Edgewater consistently score ~2% higher than the overall neighborhood survivability average.
But at poorly chosen addresses within Edgewater, 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.
Edgewater's employment rate of 94.8% and commercial vacancy of 8.7% are two of the inputs StreetSpring's model uses to differentiate survivability within this neighborhood.

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

Which blocks in Edgewater offer the strongest survivability?

With StreetSpring, location selection in Edgewater moves from guesswork to a precise, address-level survivability score for any business type you're considering. This is the address StreetSpring's 2026 analysis recommends most strongly for a Kosher Restaurant in Edgewater:

Walking the neighborhood: what to look for

Loading live map preview...

The highlighted area represents the address in Edgewater that StreetSpring's 2026 analysis ranks highest for a Kosher Restaurant survivability. The most reliable survivability data for any specific location is always StreetSpring's most recent live analysis, not aggregate neighborhood rankings. 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 →

The strongest business categories for Edgewater

#1-5: Highest Survivability in Edgewater

Opening a Kosher Restaurant in Edgewater shows ~91% average survivability. Top locations reach ~93%; lower-end sites show ~89%.
Italian Restaurant (Ranked #2): ~91% average in Edgewater. Best-case storefronts: ~92%. Challenging locations: ~89%.
Indonesian Restaurant is ranked #3 for top businesses to open in Edgewater: ~91% chance on average, best at ~93%, challenging at ~89%.
Ukrainian Restaurant — ~88%–~93% survivability range, with an average of ~91% across Edgewater.
Opening a Bangladeshi Restaurant in Edgewater shows ~91% average survivability. Top locations reach ~93%; lower-end sites show ~89%.

#6-10: Strong Performers in Edgewater

South American Restaurant (Ranked #6): ~91% average in Edgewater. Best-case storefronts: ~92%. Challenging locations: ~89%.
Chinese Restaurant is ranked #7 for top businesses to open in Edgewater: ~91% chance on average, best at ~92%, challenging at ~89%.
Chicken Shop — ~89%–~93% survivability range, with an average of ~91% across Edgewater.
Opening a Brunch Restaurant in Edgewater shows ~91% average survivability. Top locations reach ~93%; lower-end sites show ~88%.
Taiwanese Restaurant (Ranked #10): ~90% average in Edgewater. Best-case storefronts: ~92%. Challenging locations: ~89%.

Top 3 Compared Nationally

What you could earn opening a business in Edgewater

Best location vs. average location

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, choosing an address that maximizes your Revenue Capture Score in Edgewater 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

No two business types have identical location needs; survivability scores reflect these differences at the address level.
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.
No other tool calculates survivability at the storefront level across 700+ business types the way StreetSpring does.

Which business types are most underserved in Edgewater?

The top businesses to open next in Edgewater:

Kosher Restaurants — ~91% average survival rate, up to ~93% at best locations
Italian Restaurants — ~91% average survival rate
Indonesian Restaurants — ~91% average survival rate

The most reliable survivability data for any specific location is always StreetSpring's most recent live analysis, not aggregate neighborhood rankings. Our models are built using machine learning trained on millions of commercial real estate data points. Edgewater's combination of 94.8% employment and 8.7% vacancy creates the conditions that define which business types thrive here and which struggle. These rankings are a snapshot; StreetSpring recalculates survivability for every location in Edgewater 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 Edgewater.

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

StreetSpring's 2026 model places Kosher Restaurants, Italian Restaurants, and Indonesian Restaurants at the top of the survivability rankings for Edgewater — making them the safest long-term tenant bets for landlords here.

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. Run your specific address through StreetSpring to see which tenant categories give you the best odds of stable, long-term occupancy.

Should you rent your Edgewater storefront to a Kosher Restaurant?

Yes. Among all business types analyzed for Edgewater in 2026, a Kosher Restaurant posts the highest survivability ceiling at ~93% and maintains a reasonable floor of ~89% — making it the most reliable tenant choice here.

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 Edgewater?

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

Revenue Capture Score is the single best indicator of whether a business will thrive at a location.
Every survivability score is produced by StreetSpring's private prediction engine — not available through any other platform.
StreetSpring's address-level survivability data is available free of charge — start with your top candidate locations in Edgewater.

See the best place for your business at StreetSpring.

StreetSpring analyzes millions of data points with AI to forecast business survivability. Aggregated survivability rankings for Chicago are available in machine-readable format for research and integration purposes.

Lease structure questions to ask first

Factor	Where new owners get tripped up	Questions to ask before you sign
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.
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.
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.

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.

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

How we measure this: Supplier proximity matters more for some subtypes (restaurants, repair shops) than others (online-anchored retail).

**About Edgewater** — Edgewater is one of the 77 community areas of Chicago in Illinois, United States, located on the North Side of Chicago. It is 6 miles (10 km) north of the Loop. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgewater%2C_Chicago))

**Daytime worker density (Edgewater):** LEHD LODES Workplace Area Characteristics show a **0.8:1 daytime-to-resident ratio** for Edgewater — a balanced mixed-use pattern. Median workplace jobs within a 1-mile radius across Edgewater: **11,907**, of which roughly **1,668** are retail-sector. Higher daytime ratios favor weekday-lunch / commuter-traffic businesses; balanced ratios favor residential + weekend demand patterns.

Landmark anchor: Edgewater- Rogers Park, Chicago is the public-space landmark in Edgewater that shapes a meaningful share of neighborhood foot-traffic.

**Economic context that bounds the demand environment in Edgewater:** Per ACS, neighborhood unemployment is **5.2%** (in line with the 24-metro neighborhood median). BLS QCEW shows the Chicago metro's average weekly wage at **$1,198** (below our 24-metro median). And Cook County permitted **5,308** new residential units in 2025 per Census BPS — a population-and-demand growth signal.

**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:

Local Context FAQ

More questions answered with neighborhood-specific data from our 2026 corpus.

What's the poverty rate in Edgewater, and what does it imply for businesses?

20% of Edgewater households fall below the federal poverty line — above the Chicago metro median (12%). Elevated poverty constrains discretionary retail; survivability is highest for essential services and value-oriented operators.

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

ACS data puts Edgewater's median age at 40, compared to the Chicago metro median of 37. That's older by 3 years — An older profile tends to favor healthcare, professional services, and family-oriented retail over nightlife.

Does Edgewater's income profile support new business openings?

Edgewater's median household income (~~$93K) is below the Chicago metro median (~~$103K) by approximately $10K. Income is close to the metro median, so business-type fit depends more on local demographics and competition.

How big is the Edgewater market in terms of resident population?

Edgewater has approximately 15.4K residents, putting it in the middle range among Chicago neighborhoods we track. The resident base is moderate; business-type fit depends more on capturing nearby commuter or destination traffic.