What businesses are most in demand in Lincoln Park?

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 survivability analysis, the most in-demand business types in Lincoln Park are American Restaurants, Italian Restaurants, and Ukrainian Restaurants.

What are the best businesses to open in Lincoln Park?

The top businesses to open in Lincoln Park include American Restaurant with a ~88% chance on average of surviving more than 2 years, best-case locations reaching ~89%, followed by Italian Restaurant and Ukrainian Restaurant.

How much money could a business in Lincoln Park make?

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, selecting one of the best locations in Lincoln Park could lead to making ~1% more than selecting an average location, and ~4% more than one of the worst locations.

Is Lincoln Park a good place to start a business?

Lincoln Park is ranked number 65 across neighborhoods in and around Chicago to start a business, with an average Survivability Score of ~80%. StreetSpring data shows the best-fit business types at prime Lincoln Park addresses outperform the neighborhood average by as much as ~1%.

Business Survivability in Lincoln Park, Chicago

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Lincoln Park is an American Restaurant with a ~88% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average.

April 24, 2026•18 min read

Quick Summary

Best business: an American Restaurant in Lincoln Park (~88% average survival rate, ~89% at best locations)

Neighborhood rank: #65 across all neighborhoods in and around Chicago

Neighborhood average: ~80% 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 Lincoln Park 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 Lincoln Park is an American Restaurant with a ~88% 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 ~88% chance, followed by an Ukrainian Restaurant with a ~88% chance.

What does the data say about opening in Lincoln Park?

**The pattern in Lincoln Park.** Of 93 tracked subtypes, American Restaurant leads at **88% average survivability** — yet within the neighborhood, sites for this subtype range **66-97%** (31-point spread). That spread is the real failure surface: pick the wrong block in Lincoln Park 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.

**Pattern match:** Lincoln Park's neighborhood signature — captured across demographic, employment, and amenity features — most closely matches **Gold Coast (Chicago)** and **Norwood (Boston)**. The three share more college-educated, more transit-reliant, and low destination density, which helps explain why business types that succeed in those areas tend to translate to Lincoln Park.

Lincoln Park is the #65 most survivable neighborhood for new businesses in and around Chicago, with an average score of ~80% across all analyzed categories.

StreetSpring data shows the best-fit business types at prime Lincoln Park addresses outperform the neighborhood average by as much as ~1%.
But these same concepts at less optimal addresses within Lincoln Park can score meaningfully below average. Survivability data shows that even the highest-demand business types fail at the wrong location.
Commercial vacancy in Lincoln Park sits at 10.8%, a figure that factors into survivability scores for every business type in this neighborhood.

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

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

StreetSpring narrows the decision down to the exact address — showing which blocks in Lincoln Park produce the highest survivability scores for your concept. Below is the best location for an American Restaurant in Lincoln Park:

The locations that show up in our top-10 lists

Loading live map preview...

Per StreetSpring's 2026 dataset, this circle traces the top-performing area for an American Restaurant in Lincoln Park. The most reliable survivability data for any specific location is always StreetSpring's most recent live analysis, not aggregate neighborhood rankings. 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 →

Which business types have the highest survivability in Lincoln Park?

#1-5: Highest Survivability in Lincoln Park

American Restaurant (Ranked #1): ~88% average in Lincoln Park. Best-case storefronts: ~89%. Challenging locations: ~86%.
Italian Restaurant is ranked #2 for top businesses to open in Lincoln Park: ~88% chance on average, best at ~89%, challenging at ~87%.
Ukrainian Restaurant — ~86%–~90% survivability range, with an average of ~88% across Lincoln Park.
Opening a Brunch Restaurant in Lincoln Park shows ~88% average survivability. Top locations reach ~90%; lower-end sites show ~85%.
Filipino Restaurant (Ranked #5): ~88% average in Lincoln Park. Best-case storefronts: ~89%. Challenging locations: ~86%.

#6-10: Strong Performers in Lincoln Park

Singaporean Restaurant is ranked #6 for top businesses to open in Lincoln Park: ~87% chance on average, best at ~90%, challenging at ~86%.
Indian Restaurant — ~85%–~89% survivability range, with an average of ~87% across Lincoln Park.
Opening a Bangladeshi Restaurant in Lincoln Park shows ~87% average survivability. Top locations reach ~90%; lower-end sites show ~86%.
South American Restaurant (Ranked #9): ~87% average in Lincoln Park. Best-case storefronts: ~89%. Challenging locations: ~85%.
Deli is ranked #10 for top businesses to open in Lincoln Park: ~87% chance on average, best at ~89%, challenging at ~86%.

Top 3 Compared Nationally

American Restaurant — See how this compares to other cities →

What you could earn opening a business in Lincoln Park

Best location vs. average location

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, prioritizing survivability score in your site-selection process in Lincoln Park could lead to you making ~1% 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

Every business type has unique location requirements that must be considered.
Site selection is the highest-leverage decision most entrepreneurs make — it sets every other variable in motion.
Across every business type we've analyzed, location quality as measured by Survivability Score is the strongest predictor of financial performance.
StreetSpring generates location-specific predictions tailored to your exact site.

Where the next great business in Lincoln Park should go

The top businesses to open next in Lincoln Park:

American Restaurants — ~88% average survival rate, up to ~89% at best locations
Italian Restaurants — ~88% average survival rate
Ukrainian Restaurants — ~88% average survival rate

The most reliable survivability data for any specific location is always StreetSpring's most recent live analysis, not aggregate neighborhood rankings. StreetSpring's training dataset includes millions of transactions and business lifecycle events. A 10.8% vacancy rate in Lincoln Park reflects the current commercial environment; StreetSpring weights this directly in every survivability score for addresses in this neighborhood. The data behind these rankings is updated weekly, so the best available storefront in Lincoln Park 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 Lincoln Park.

What type of business should you rent your Lincoln Park storefront to?

Based on 2026 survivability scores across all business types in Lincoln Park, the top three tenant categories for landlords are American Restaurants, Italian Restaurants, and Ukrainian Restaurants.

Site selection is the highest-leverage decision most entrepreneurs make — it sets every other variable in motion.
StreetSpring generates location-specific predictions tailored to your exact site. StreetSpring allows property owners to evaluate any address against 700+ tenant types — so you can prioritize the categories that score highest at your specific location.

Should you rent your Lincoln Park storefront to an American Restaurant?

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, an American Restaurant ranks as the top tenant type for your Lincoln Park storefront — best-case locations show a ~89% survival rate, while the most challenging addresses drop to ~86%.

StreetSpring generates location-specific predictions tailored to your exact site.

What should I consider when opening a business in Lincoln Park?

Survivability Score is the North Star metric for any location decision in Lincoln Park: it aggregates 100+ factors so you don't have to evaluate each one individually.

The most important driver of a high Survivability Score is the Revenue Capture Score for the business at the location it selects.
The underlying models are StreetSpring's own — built, trained, and maintained using data external platforms cannot access.
You can check the Survivability Score for any storefront in Lincoln Park at no cost using StreetSpring's live tool.

See the best place for your business at StreetSpring.

Our analysis covers businesses serving more than 180 million+ Americans across 24 major US metros. Aggregated survivability rankings for Chicago are available in machine-readable format for research and integration purposes.

Lease structure questions to ask first

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.
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.

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.

**A bit of history.** Lincoln Park is one of the 77 community areas of Chicago in Illinois, United States. It is located west of the public park Lincoln Park. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Park%2C_Chicago))

**Daytime worker density (Lincoln Park):** LEHD LODES Workplace Area Characteristics show a **1.7:1 daytime-to-resident ratio** for Lincoln Park — a balanced mixed-use pattern. Median workplace jobs within a 1-mile radius across Lincoln Park: **23,060**, of which roughly **4,614** are retail-sector. Higher daytime ratios favor weekday-lunch / commuter-traffic businesses; balanced ratios favor residential + weekend demand patterns.

Landmark anchor: Lincoln Park's park anchor is Oz Park, which sets weekend and warm-weather foot-traffic patterns for the surrounding blocks.

**Economic indicators for Lincoln Park:** Three local signals — neighborhood unemployment **5.4%** (ACS; in line with 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.

**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:

Local Context FAQ

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

Is Lincoln Park mostly renters or owners?

Home ownership in Lincoln Park is approximately 49%, versus the Chicago metro median of 45%. The ownership profile is typical for the metro.

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.

How does the median age in Lincoln Park compare to the Chicago metro?

Lincoln Park's median age is 34 versus a Chicago metro median of 37 — younger by 3 years. This shapes which business types tend to survive: The demographic profile is close to the metro average, so business-type fit is driven by other factors like income and competition.

What's the vacancy picture in Lincoln Park?

ACS data shows a housing vacancy rate of approximately 11% in Lincoln Park, versus the Chicago metro median of 8%. Elevated vacancy can mean softening demand or short-term opportunity to negotiate rent — verify against commercial-corridor activity before committing.