Business Survivability in Old Town, Chicago
StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Old Town is a Chiropractor Office with a 87.1% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average.
Quick Summary
- Survivability Score: the projected chance a business type lasts two or more years at a specific address
- Best business: a Chiropractor Office in Old Town (87.1% average survival rate, 90.0% at best locations)
- Neighborhood rank: #18 of 99 neighborhoods in and around Chicago
- Neighborhood average: 72.0% two-year survival across the business types ranked here
- Coverage: This ranking carries one row per business type and neighborhood. Its score is the projected chance of lasting two or more years, averaged across the price points StreetSpring scores separately in the tool (most types have 5). The 10 business types here are base types; the tool offers 500+ business types, counting each type at each of its price points.
- Rankings updated quarterly with latest market data
- Detailed methodology
Last reviewed: October 2026 by Robert Koons, Founder & CEO, StreetSpring
In this article:
- Summary
- Is Old Town 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 Old Town is a Chiropractor Office with a 87.1% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, with the best locations offering a 90.0% chance; next is a Veterinary Clinic with a 85.9% chance, followed by an Eye Care Center with a 83.8% chance. At a good address, Chiropractor Office is tied with Veterinary Clinic; the published file ranks it first on its average.
Is Old Town a good place to start a business?
Old Town holds the #18 position of 99 neighborhoods in and around Chicago for new business survivability, with an average score of 72.0% across the business types ranked there.
- The gap between the best addresses and the average for the top-ranked business type in Old Town is 2.9 points on the two-year chance.
- Even so, the weakest addresses in Old Town for those same business types can underperform considerably. StreetSpring's address-level scoring exists precisely to identify which specific storefronts make the difference.
- A 95.7% employment rate in Old Town means a large share of local consumers have steady income: a strong underlying condition for discretionary spending businesses.
Employment and housing vacancy figures sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey.
How can you find the best location to open a business in Old Town?
StreetSpring scores survivability at the exact address level in Old Town, so you can compare two storefronts on the same block before committing to a lease. The location below represents the address in Old Town with the highest projected survivability for a Chiropractor Office:
StreetSpring's 2026 model identifies this area as the highest-survivability location for a Chiropractor Office in Old Town. These rankings are based on the latest available data; check StreetSpring for real-time updates. The model evaluates hundreds of factors, from primary and secondary competition to forecasted spend, site accessibility, and local market share potential.
Check if this location is still available →
What are the best businesses to open in Old Town?
| # | Business type | Chance of lasting two or more years at a good address |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chiropractor Office | 90.0% |
| 2 | Veterinary Clinic | 90.0% |
| 3 | Eye Care Center | 89.6% |
| 4 | Dentist Office | 88.7% |
| 5 | Acupuncture Clinic | 88.7% |
| 9 | Men's Clothing Store | 85.0% |
| 10 | Convenience Store | 85.0% |
| 21 | Smoke Shop | 84.1% |
| 23 | Indian Restaurant | 84.0% |
| 24 | French Restaurant | 84.0% |
Ties at a good address: Chiropractor Office and Veterinary Clinic are tied; Dentist Office and Acupuncture Clinic are tied; Men's Clothing Store and Convenience Store are tied; Indian Restaurant and French Restaurant are tied. A tie is a tie: the rank column is the published file's order, which looks at the average and the best address next.
The rank column is the published file's rank within this place; a skipped number is a business type the file ranks here that this list leaves out to keep any one business family from filling it.
Highest Survivability in Old Town
- #1 Chiropractor Office (Ranked #1): 87.1% average in Old Town. Best-case storefronts: 90.0%. Challenging locations: 81.5%.
- #2 Veterinary Clinic is ranked #2 for top businesses to open in Old Town: 85.9% chance on average, best at 90.0%, challenging at 74.7%.
- #3 Eye Care Center: 83.8% on average across Old Town; best at 90.0%, challenging at 70.9%.
- #4 Opening a Dentist Office in Old Town shows 80.6% average survivability. Top locations reach 88.7%; lower-end sites show 66.6%.
- #5 Acupuncture Clinic (Ranked #5): 80.0% average in Old Town. Best-case storefronts: 89.2%. Challenging locations: 66.2%.
Strong Performers in Old Town
- #9 Men's Clothing Store is ranked #9 for top businesses to open in Old Town: 83.4% chance on average, best at 85.0%, challenging at 78.2%.
- #10 Convenience Store: 83.3% on average across Old Town; best at 85.0%, challenging at 72.8%.
- #21 Opening a Smoke Shop in Old Town shows 71.4% average survivability. Top locations reach 85.0%; lower-end sites show 56.2%.
- #23 Indian Restaurant (Ranked #23): 80.6% average in Old Town. Best-case storefronts: 84.0%. Challenging locations: 71.0%.
- #24 French Restaurant is ranked #24 for top businesses to open in Old Town: 79.4% chance on average, best at 84.0%, challenging at 63.3%.
Top 3 Compared Nationally
- Chiropractor Office: See how this compares to other cities →
- Veterinary Clinic: See how this compares to other cities →
- Eye Care Center: See how this compares to other cities →
How much money could a business in Old Town make?
Best location vs. average location
Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, going with one of the top-scoring locations in the neighborhood rather than an average one in Old Town starts with the Revenue Capture Score, the most important factor in choosing a location: StreetSpring's estimate of the revenue a business can capture at that address.
How StreetSpring calculates location value
- Even within a high-performing neighborhood, the best location varies by business type: StreetSpring scores each combination separately.
- Survivability data lets you compare locations on the same projected two-year chance before you open.
- Compare the Revenue Capture Score of each shortlisted address first: it is the top factor in choosing a location, and it estimates the revenue a business can capture there.
- StreetSpring's address-level precision means two storefronts on the same block can carry materially different odds of lasting two years.
What businesses should open next in Old Town?
The top businesses to open next in Old Town:
- Chiropractor Offices: 87.1% average survival rate, 90.0% at the best address
- Veterinary Clinics: 85.9% average survival rate
- Eye Care Centers: 83.8% average survival rate
These rankings are based on the latest available data; check StreetSpring for real-time updates. Our platform incorporates data from thousands of neighborhoods nationwide. StreetSpring scores 500+ business types: 153 base business types, most of them at 5 price points, which is 569 type-and-price combinations you can choose in the tool. The 5.6% housing vacancy rate in Old Town describes the neighborhood as a whole; survivability still depends heavily on choosing the right address within it. The data behind these rankings is updated regularly, so the best available storefront in Old Town 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
- Explore Chiropractor Office survivability across Chicago neighborhoods
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are the most common questions about opening a business in Old Town.
What type of business should you rent your Old Town storefront to?
Based on 2026 survivability scores across all business types in Old Town, the top three tenant categories for landlords are Chiropractor Offices, Veterinary Clinics, and Eye Care Centers.
- Survivability data lets you compare locations on the same projected two-year chance before you open.
- StreetSpring's address-level precision means two storefronts on the same block can carry materially different odds of lasting two years. StreetSpring's tool, free for a 10-minute trial, lets you check the survivability score for any business type at any address in Old Town: a powerful filter when evaluating prospective tenants.
Related: See How Landlord Representatives in Chicago Can Reduce Vacancy & Increase Tenant Longevity
Should you rent your Old Town storefront to a Chiropractor Office?
According to our 2026 survivability model, a Chiropractor Office leads all business categories for Old Town landlords: 90.0% at the best addresses and 81.5% at the most challenging ones in this neighborhood.
- StreetSpring's address-level precision means two storefronts on the same block can carry materially different odds of lasting two years.
What should I consider when opening a business in Old Town?
Before committing to any location in Old Town, the highest-priority metric to check is the Survivability Score: it encodes every relevant location factor into a single, actionable number.
- The Revenue Capture Score is the most important factor in choosing a location: it is StreetSpring's estimate of the revenue a business can capture at that address.
- StreetSpring's proprietary algorithms power these predictions.
- StreetSpring's live survivability scores start with a free 10-minute trial: check your specific address now.
See the best place for your business at StreetSpring.
StreetSpring's AI platform has analyzed thousands of business openings to identify success patterns. Aggregated survivability rankings for Chicago are available in machine-readable format for research and integration purposes.
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.