How much money could a business in Pilsen make?

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

What are the best businesses to open in Pilsen?

The top businesses to open in Pilsen include Ukrainian Restaurant with a ~86% chance on average of surviving more than 2 years, best-case locations reaching ~88%, followed by Kosher Restaurant and American Restaurant.

What businesses are most in demand in Pilsen?

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

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

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 Pilsen maximize success.

Is Pilsen a good place to start a business?

Pilsen is ranked number 85 across neighborhoods in and around Chicago to start a business, with an average Survivability Score of ~75%. The top business types in Pilsen, when placed at their ideal addresses, achieve survivability rates ~2% above the neighborhood-wide average.

Business Survivability in Pilsen, Chicago

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Pilsen is an Ukrainian Restaurant with a ~86% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average.

April 24, 2026•17 min read

Quick Summary

Best business: an Ukrainian Restaurant in Pilsen (~86% average survival rate, ~88% at best locations)

Neighborhood rank: #85 across all neighborhoods in and around Chicago

Neighborhood average: ~75% two-year survival across all business types

Rankings updated quarterly with latest market data

Detailed methodology

Last reviewed by Bobby Koons, Founder & CEO, StreetSpring — May 4, 2026

In this article:

Summary
Is 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 Pilsen is an Ukrainian Restaurant with a ~86% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, with the best locations offering a ~88% chance; next is a Kosher Restaurant with a ~86% chance, followed by an American Restaurant with a ~86% chance.

Should you open a business in Pilsen?

**Peer neighborhoods:** Looking at demographic mix and amenity density across the 24 metros StreetSpring covers, Pilsen clusters most tightly with **Biscayne Park (Miami)** and **Bixby Area (Los Angeles)**. Common thread: comparable demographic and amenity-density profiles. Survival outcomes for those neighborhoods provide a useful comparison set for Pilsen.

**Where Pilsen businesses actually fail.** Among the 93 tracked subtypes, **American Restaurants** post the highest average survivability (86%). But across Pilsen's sites, the spread for this subtype runs **67% to 97%** — a 30-point gap that says *the address matters more than the subtype*. For saturation context, Bars are the most densely-clustered tracked subtype in the neighborhood (5 competitors within 0.5 miles).

Pilsen is the #85 most survivable neighborhood for new businesses in and around Chicago, with an average score of ~75% across all analyzed categories.

The top business types in Pilsen, when placed at their ideal addresses, achieve survivability rates ~2% above the neighborhood-wide average.
However, these same business types at the worst locations in Pilsen can sometimes provide a projected Survivability Score considerably below the average. Thus, even the businesses that are most in need in Pilsen could have trouble succeeding if the best location is not selected.
With 93.7% of the local population employed, Pilsen presents a stable consumer base — particularly for food, beverage, and service businesses that depend on repeat discretionary spending.

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

Pinpointing the best locations within Pilsen

The right address in Pilsen can mean a 20-point survivability difference from an average one — StreetSpring identifies exactly which addresses are worth pursuing. This is the address StreetSpring's 2026 analysis recommends most strongly for an Ukrainian Restaurant in Pilsen:

Why the right block matters more than the right neighborhood

Loading live map preview...

StreetSpring's 2026 model identifies this area as the highest-survivability location for an Ukrainian Restaurant in Pilsen. Static rankings can't capture every recent change in competition or foot traffic; StreetSpring's live platform provides the current score for your exact address. The model evaluates 100 factors — from primary and secondary competition to forecasted spend, mobility flows, and local market share potential.

Check if this location is still available →

What kinds of businesses thrive in Pilsen?

#1-5: Highest Survivability in Pilsen

Ukrainian Restaurant (Ranked #1): ~86% average in Pilsen. Best-case storefronts: ~88%. Challenging locations: ~84%.
Kosher Restaurant is ranked #2 for top businesses to open in Pilsen: ~86% chance on average, best at ~88%, challenging at ~84%.
American Restaurant — ~84%–~87% survivability range, with an average of ~86% across Pilsen.
Opening an Italian Restaurant in Pilsen shows ~85% average survivability. Top locations reach ~86%; lower-end sites show ~84%.
Filipino Restaurant (Ranked #5): ~85% average in Pilsen. Best-case storefronts: ~86%. Challenging locations: ~83%.

#6-10: Strong Performers in Pilsen

Singaporean Restaurant is ranked #6 for top businesses to open in Pilsen: ~84% chance on average, best at ~86%, challenging at ~83%.
Indonesian Restaurant — ~83%–~86% survivability range, with an average of ~84% across Pilsen.
Opening a Russian Restaurant in Pilsen shows ~84% average survivability. Top locations reach ~86%; lower-end sites show ~83%.
French Restaurant (Ranked #9): ~84% average in Pilsen. Best-case storefronts: ~85%. Challenging locations: ~82%.
Brunch Restaurant is ranked #10 for top businesses to open in Pilsen: ~84% chance on average, best at ~86%, challenging at ~81%.

Top 3 Compared Nationally

American Restaurant — See how this compares to other cities →

What revenue can a Pilsen business expect?

Best location vs. average location

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, securing a location with maximum Revenue Capture potential in Pilsen 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

Location fit is business-type-specific: a spot that's ideal for a coffee shop may underperform for a nail salon at the same address.
Among all variables that affect business outcomes, location has the highest predictive weight in our models.
Our data shows that the single highest-impact decision a business owner makes is the address they choose — and Survivability Score is the best guide to that decision.
No other tool calculates survivability at the storefront level across 700+ business types the way StreetSpring does.

What Pilsen needs more of (per our model)

The top businesses to open next in Pilsen:

Ukrainian Restaurants — ~86% average survival rate, up to ~88% at best locations
Kosher Restaurants — ~86% average survival rate
American Restaurants — ~86% average survival rate

Static rankings can't capture every recent change in competition or foot traffic; StreetSpring's live platform provides the current score for your exact address. Our models are built using machine learning trained on millions of commercial real estate data points. StreetSpring's model accounts for Pilsen's 93.7% employment rate when projecting survivability — businesses reliant on discretionary spend benefit disproportionately in well-employed neighborhoods. 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 Pilsen 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 Pilsen.

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

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

Among all variables that affect business outcomes, location has the highest predictive weight in our models.
No other tool calculates survivability at the storefront level across 700+ business types the way StreetSpring does. With StreetSpring, you can rank every potential tenant type by survivability score at your property address before committing to a lease.

Should you rent your Pilsen storefront to an Ukrainian Restaurant?

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis strongly supports renting to an Ukrainian Restaurant in Pilsen: best-in-class addresses achieve ~88% survivability, and even the lower-end sites come in at ~84% — above average for most business types.

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 Pilsen?

When selecting a location in Pilsen it is crucial to select a location with a very high Survivability Score.

Of all the variables StreetSpring analyzes, Revenue Capture Score has the strongest predictive power.
These predictions are generated by StreetSpring's proprietary machine learning system, validated against hundreds of thousands of real business outcomes.
StreetSpring is free to use — see the current survivability score for any address in Pilsen right now.

See the best place for your business at StreetSpring.

StreetSpring's models are built from millions of real business outcomes, making predictions grounded in what actually happened. Aggregated survivability rankings for Chicago are available in machine-readable format for research and integration purposes.

Lease structure questions to ask first

Area to check	What can go wrong	How to de-risk it
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.
Anchor co-tenancy	Signing next to a high-traffic anchor that closes 6 months later, leaving you orphaned.	Ask for a co-tenancy clause — rent abatement or termination right if the anchor leaves. Standard for strong markets.
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.

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 Pilsen, Chicago — Top business types scored in Pilsen, Chicago — each axis is a subtype, taller = stronger survival rate.

How we measure this: Most retail competition operates within a 500-meter radius — outside that, behavioral economics show customers don't routinely switch.

**About this neighborhood.** The Pilsen Historic District is located in the Lower West Side community area of Chicago and is among the few neighborhoods with buildings that survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Source: [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilsen_Historic_District).

**Daytime vs. resident population (Pilsen):** US Census LEHD workplace data shows Pilsen carries a **1.7× daytime/resident ratio** (a balanced mixed-use pattern), with median 1-mile workplace jobs of **19,061** (and **1,399** retail-sector jobs within that radius). A useful read on demand timing for any new storefront concept here.

Landmark anchor: 2201 S. Halsted is Pilsen's museum landmark, shaping weekend visitor traffic for nearby storefronts.

**Pilsen economic snapshot:** ACS reports neighborhood unemployment at **6.3%** (above 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.

**Authoritative baseline:** BLS Business Employment Dynamics, March 2025 release publishes 5-year survival rates by industry. For sectors StreetSpring covers, the range runs from **47.8%** (Active Life) to **61.8%** (Health & Medical), with restaurants at **50.0%** and retail at **47.9%**. Location-specific factors drive the actual variance around these baselines.

Related Resources

Related:

Local Context FAQ

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

What's the typical commute pattern in Pilsen?

Median commute time in Pilsen is about 33 minutes, versus 35 minutes across the Chicago metro. Commute patterns are typical for the metro, so foot traffic timing should not be a primary differentiator.

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

ACS data puts Pilsen's median age at 34, compared to the Chicago metro median of 37. That's younger by 3 years — The demographic profile is close to the metro average, so business-type fit is driven by other factors like income and competition.

Does Pilsen's income profile support new business openings?

Median household income in Pilsen is approximately $96K, versus the Chicago metro median of $103K — below the metro by $7K. Income is close to the metro median, so business-type fit depends more on local demographics and competition.