What businesses are most in demand in The Villa?

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

What are the best businesses to open in The Villa?

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

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

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 The Villa maximize success.

Business Survivability in The Villa, Chicago

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in The Villa is an Indonesian 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: an Indonesian Restaurant in The Villa (~91% average survival rate, ~93% at best locations)

Neighborhood rank: #19 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 1, 2026 by Bobby Koons, StreetSpring founder

In this article:

Summary
Is The Villa 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 The Villa is an Indonesian 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 a Kosher Restaurant with a ~91% chance.

Is The Villa a good place to start a business?

**How The Villa compares:** The Villa's profile most resembles **Buena Park (Chicago)** and **Academy Gardens (Philadelphia)** based on the demographic and density signatures we use to model location quality — all three share longer commutes, blue-collar job mix, and more transit-reliant. Patterns from those neighborhoods are directly relevant for businesses evaluating The Villa.

**Failure pattern in The Villa.** Across the 93 business subtypes we track here, the strongest is **Italian Restaurant** at 91% average survivability — but the best and worst sites for this subtype within The Villa span **70% to 98%**, a 28-point gap. **The dominant failure mode in The Villa isn't subtype choice — it's site selection within the neighborhood.** Saturation context: American Restaurants are the most-concentrated tracked subtype in the area, with 1 competitors within a 0.5-mile radius.

The Villa is ranked number 19 across neighborhoods in and around Chicago to start a business, with an average Survivability Score of ~83%.

Choosing an optimal address for the highest-ranked business types in The Villa can produce survivability scores up to ~2% above the neighborhood mean.
That said, the same business types at the worst-fit addresses in The Villa can drop substantially below average. The survivability gap between the best and worst addresses in a single neighborhood can be 20 points or more.
With a 94.7% employment rate, The Villa has the consumer spending foundation that supports a range of brick-and-mortar business types.

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

Where in The Villa should you open a business?

StreetSpring's The Villa data goes block by block — not just neighborhood averages — so you know which specific storefront gives your concept the strongest foundation. Below is the best location for an Indonesian Restaurant in The Villa:

Walking the neighborhood: what to look for

Loading live map preview...

This map shows the optimal location for an Indonesian Restaurant in The Villa based on StreetSpring's 2026 survivability analysis. Neighborhood-level averages are a starting point — the exact address will determine your actual survivability score. The prediction model incorporates 100 location-specific factors, including competitive density, forecasted consumer spending, mobility patterns, and Revenue Capture Score.

Check if this location is still available →

Which business types have the highest survivability in The Villa?

#1-5: Highest Survivability in The Villa

Indonesian Restaurant — ~89%–~93% survivability range, with an average of ~91% across The Villa.
Opening an Italian Restaurant in The Villa shows ~91% average survivability. Top locations reach ~92%; lower-end sites show ~89%.
Kosher Restaurant (Ranked #3): ~91% average in The Villa. Best-case storefronts: ~93%. Challenging locations: ~89%.
Ukrainian Restaurant is ranked #4 for top businesses to open in The Villa: ~91% chance on average, best at ~93%, challenging at ~88%.
Bangladeshi Restaurant — ~89%–~93% survivability range, with an average of ~91% across The Villa.

#6-10: Strong Performers in The Villa

Opening a South American Restaurant in The Villa shows ~91% average survivability. Top locations reach ~92%; lower-end sites show ~89%.
Deli (Ranked #7): ~91% average in The Villa. Best-case storefronts: ~92%. Challenging locations: ~89%.
Chinese Restaurant is ranked #8 for top businesses to open in The Villa: ~91% chance on average, best at ~92%, challenging at ~89%.
Brunch Restaurant — ~88%–~93% survivability range, with an average of ~90% across The Villa.
Opening a Chicken Shop in The Villa shows ~90% average survivability. Top locations reach ~93%; lower-end sites show ~89%.

Top 3 Compared Nationally

How much money could a business in The Villa make?

Best location vs. average location

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, selecting one of the best locations for your business in The Villa could lead to you making ~2% 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

Different business models thrive in different micro-locations.
A great product in the wrong location will underperform; an average product in the right location can thrive.
Every percentage point of Survivability Score represents a real difference in expected revenue — choosing the highest-scoring address is the most reliable financial decision you can make at the outset.
StreetSpring can pinpoint which blocks in each neighborhood or city maximize a business's chances of success.

Where the next great business in The Villa should go

The top businesses to open next in The Villa:

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

Neighborhood-level averages are a starting point — the exact address will determine your actual survivability score. Our training data spans 130+ business types across 24 major metros, giving our models the breadth to predict outcomes across nearly any commercial concept. The Villa's employment rate (94.7%) and vacancy rate (9.6%) together define the economic context that StreetSpring's model uses to score survivability for each business type at each address. StreetSpring updates survivability scores for available locations weekly — check the live tool now to see which storefronts in The Villa are currently available and how they score.

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 The Villa.

What type of business should you rent your The Villa storefront to?

The analysis is clear: in The Villa, Indonesian Restaurants, Italian Restaurants, and Kosher Restaurants consistently score highest on survivability, giving landlords the best chance of retaining tenants for 2+ years.

A great product in the wrong location will underperform; an average product in the right location can thrive.
StreetSpring can pinpoint which blocks in each neighborhood or city maximize a business's chances of success. 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 The Villa storefront to an Indonesian Restaurant?

According to our 2026 survivability model, an Indonesian Restaurant leads all business categories for The Villa landlords — ~93% at the best addresses and ~89% at the most challenging ones in this neighborhood.

StreetSpring can pinpoint which blocks in each neighborhood or city maximize a business's chances of success.

What should I consider when opening a business in The Villa?

When evaluating potential locations in The Villa, start with the Survivability Score. It accounts for competition, spending, mobility, and market share in a single figure.

Of all the variables StreetSpring analyzes, Revenue Capture Score has the strongest predictive power.
These forecasts are generated using StreetSpring's unique analytical framework.
StreetSpring is free to use — see the current survivability score for any address in The Villa right now.

See the best place for your business at StreetSpring.

Powered by machine learning models trained on real business outcomes, StreetSpring delivers actionable insights. Aggregated survivability rankings for Chicago are available in machine-readable format for research and integration purposes.

The hidden costs of operating in this neighborhood

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

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

How we measure this: Annual rent / estimated annual revenue = rent burden ratio. Industry rule of thumb: above 12% is uncomfortable, above 18% is fatal.

**The Villa at a glance.** The Villa District, also known as Villa Historic District, is a historic district in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is located on Chicago's Northwest Side within the community area of Irving Park. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_District))

**Worker-to-resident ratio (The Villa):** LEHD daytime population data gives The Villa a **1.1-to-1 worker/resident ratio** (a balanced mixed-use pattern). Median 1-mile workplace jobs: **11,186**; retail share within that: **1,925**. Worker-heavy neighborhoods skew demand toward weekday-business-hours; resident-heavy neighborhoods skew toward evenings and weekends.

Landmark anchor: Villa District is a registered historical landmark in The Villa that contributes to the neighborhood's cultural-destination identity.

**Local economic context (The Villa, Chicago):** The Villa's ACS unemployment rate is **5.3%** (in line with the 24-metro neighborhood median). County-level data adds two more anchors: BLS QCEW reports Chicago-area average weekly wage of **$1,198** (below our 24-metro median), and the Census Bureau Building Permits Survey logged **5,308** new residential units in Cook County in 2025 — a rough proxy for the local growth environment a new business is opening into.

**BLS sector context:** Across the 11 industries StreetSpring tracks, 5-year survival rates from BLS Business Employment Dynamics, March 2025 release range from **47.8%** (Active Life — gyms, studios) to **61.8%** (Health & Medical). Restaurants — the largest single category in our corpus — average **50.0%** nationally, and retail averages **47.9%**.

Related:

Neighborhood-Specific Questions

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

50% of The Villa adults have at least a bachelor's degree — below the Chicago metro median of 52%. Education attainment is close to the metro median, so business-type signals come more from income and density.

How does income in The Villa compare to the rest of Chicago?

ACS data shows median household income in The Villa at roughly $113K, compared to $103K across the Chicago metro. Income is close to the metro median, so business-type fit depends more on local demographics and competition.

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

ACS data shows 11% of The Villa residents below the federal poverty line, versus 12% metro-wide. The poverty rate tracks the metro median; business-type fit depends more on competition and demographic specifics.