Business Survivability in Portage Park, Chicago
StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Portage Park is a Veterinary Clinic with a ~83% 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 Veterinary Clinic in Portage Park (~83% average survival rate, ~86% at best locations)
- Neighborhood rank: #76 across all neighborhoods in and around Chicago
- Neighborhood average: ~77% two-year survival across all business types
- 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: September 2026 by Robert Koons, Founder & CEO, StreetSpring
In this article:
- Summary
- Is Portage 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 Portage Park is a Veterinary Clinic with a ~83% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, with the best locations offering a ~86% chance; next is a Physical Therapy Clinic with a 82.80% chance, followed by an Acupuncture Clinic with a 80.39% chance.
Is Portage Park a good place to start a business?
Portage Park is the #76 most survivable neighborhood for new businesses in and around Chicago, with an average score of ~77% across all analyzed categories.
- Top-performing business types at the best addresses in Portage Park show a ~10% survival rate advantage over the neighborhood average.
- Yet even the strongest business types in Portage Park see survivability scores drop significantly at the worst addresses. No business type is immune to the consequences of poor location selection within this neighborhood.
- StreetSpring's model incorporates Portage Park's 5.7% vacancy rate as a direct input: higher vacancy concentrations suppress foot traffic and reduce survivability for nearby businesses.
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 Portage Park?
Rather than relying on neighborhood averages, StreetSpring's scoring tells you which specific addresses in Portage Park give your concept the best odds of survival. Of all available storefronts analyzed in Portage Park, StreetSpring ranks this area highest for a Veterinary Clinic in 2026:
According to StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, this circle outlines the best area for a Veterinary Clinic in Portage Park. These figures represent averages across a neighborhood; your specific address may score meaningfully higher or lower depending on block-level competitive conditions. StreetSpring's prediction model analyzes hundreds of 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 →
What are the best businesses to open in Portage Park?
| # | Business type | Chance of lasting two or more years at a good address |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Veterinary Clinic | 84.50% |
| 2 | Physical Therapy Clinic | 84.49% |
| 3 | Acupuncture Clinic | 82.79% |
| 4 | Chiropractor Office | 81.49% |
| 5 | Grocery Store | 81.30% |
| 6 | Coffee Shop | 80.01% |
| 7 | Pizza Restaurant | 80.00% |
| 8 | American Restaurant | 79.50% |
| 9 | Dessert Shop | 79.49% |
| 10 | Liquor Store | 79.10% |
#1-5: Highest Survivability in Portage Park
- Veterinary Clinic is ranked #1 for top businesses to open in Portage Park: 82.90% chance on average, best at ~86%, challenging at ~79%.
- Physical Therapy Clinic: ~77% to ~86% survivability range, with an average of 82.80% across Portage Park.
- Opening an Acupuncture Clinic in Portage Park shows 80.39% average survivability. Top locations reach ~84%; lower-end sites show ~76%.
- Chiropractor Office (Ranked #4): 79.69% average in Portage Park. Best-case storefronts: ~83%. Challenging locations: ~76%.
- Grocery Store is ranked #5 for top businesses to open in Portage Park: 79.60% chance on average, best at ~83%, challenging at ~76%.
#6-10: Strong Performers in Portage Park
- Coffee Shop: ~74% to ~82% survivability range, with an average of 78.21% across Portage Park.
- Opening a Pizza Restaurant in Portage Park shows 77.50% average survivability. Top locations reach ~81%; lower-end sites show ~74%.
- American Restaurant (Ranked #8): 78.31% average in Portage Park. Best-case storefronts: ~81%. Challenging locations: ~76%.
- Dessert Shop is ranked #9 for top businesses to open in Portage Park: 78.00% chance on average, best at ~81%, challenging at ~75%.
- Liquor Store: ~74% to ~81% survivability range, with an average of 77.30% across Portage Park.
Top 3 Compared Nationally
- Veterinary Clinic: See how this compares to other cities →
- Physical Therapy Clinic: See how this compares to other cities →
- Acupuncture Clinic: See how this compares to other cities →
How much money could a business in Portage Park make?
Best location vs. average location
Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, securing a location with maximum Revenue Capture potential in Portage Park could lead to you making ~10% more than if you selected an average location, and ~26% more than if you selected one of the worst locations.
How StreetSpring calculates location value
- StreetSpring calculates survivability for each business type separately at each address, so the best location for your concept may differ from the neighborhood's overall top-ranked site.
- The right location can make a business; the wrong one can break it.
- Choosing locations with superior Survivability Scores directly correlates with higher revenue potential.
- StreetSpring generates location-specific predictions tailored to your exact site.
What businesses should open next in Portage Park?
The top businesses to open next in Portage Park:
- Veterinary Clinics: 82.90% average survival rate, ~86% at the best address
- Physical Therapy Clinics: 82.80% average survival rate
- Acupuncture Clinics: 80.39% average survival rate
These figures represent averages across a neighborhood; your specific address may score meaningfully higher or lower depending on block-level competitive conditions. Our models are built using machine learning trained on millions of commercial real estate data points. 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. Portage Park's combination of 95.7% employment and 5.7% 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 Portage Park 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
- Explore Veterinary Clinic survivability across Chicago neighborhoods
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are the most common questions about opening a business in Portage Park.
What type of business should you rent your Portage Park storefront to?
Our 2026 survivability data for Portage Park shows that Veterinary Clinics, Physical Therapy Clinics, and Acupuncture Clinics rank as the top tenant categories for minimizing vacancy risk.
- The right location can make a business; the wrong one can break it.
- StreetSpring generates location-specific predictions tailored to your exact site. StreetSpring can show you which specific address in your portfolio scores highest for each tenant type.
Related: See How Landlord Representatives in Chicago Can Reduce Vacancy & Increase Tenant Longevity
Should you rent your Portage Park storefront to a Veterinary Clinic?
StreetSpring's 2026 analysis strongly supports renting to a Veterinary Clinic in Portage Park: best-in-class addresses achieve ~86% survivability, and even the lower-end sites come in at ~79%.
- StreetSpring generates location-specific predictions tailored to your exact site.
What should I consider when opening a business in Portage Park?
The Survivability Score for your specific address in Portage Park is the most reliable signal you have before signing a lease: prioritize it above foot traffic estimates and demographic summaries.
- The Revenue Capture Score at a specific address explains more about likely business success than any other available metric.
- The underlying models are StreetSpring's own: built, trained, and maintained using data external platforms cannot access.
- StreetSpring is free to use: see the current survivability score for any address in Portage Park right now.
See the best place for your business at StreetSpring.
StreetSpring's AI platform has studied businesses serving more than 180 million+ Americans, giving its predictions a scale of validation unmatched in site-selection tools. 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.