Business Survivability Rankings: Chicago
StreetSpring's 2026 analysis ranks business survivability in Chicago by survivability score. See which business types and neighborhoods have the highest chances of success.
Quick Summary
- Survivability Score: the projected chance a business type lasts two or more years at a specific address
- Top of the ranking: 50 business and place combinations tie for the highest figure, 90.0% at a good address, across 8 business types
- 5,487 of 12,771 ranked combinations reach 80% or better at a good address in Chicago
- Geography: the Chicago file covers 166 places (165 neighborhoods and 1 town), of which 99 neighborhoods and 0 towns are ranked. Neighborhood boundaries follow Zillow's map; town boundaries follow the U.S. Census.
- City average: 65.5% chance of lasting two or more years at a typical address
- 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 129 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
Table of Contents
- Summary
- What Are My Chances of Success?
- Business Survivability Rankings
- Best Business in Each Category
- Understanding Survivability Ranges
- Most Important Factors
- Key Takeaways
- Related Resources
Summary
According to StreetSpring's 2026 file for Chicago, 5,487 of the 12,771 ranked business and place combinations in the Chicago file reach 80% or better at a good address. At the top, 50 business and place combinations tie for the highest figure, 90.0% at a good address, across 8 business types. Location is one of the few things about a new business you can measure before it opens.
StreetSpring analyzes millions of data points with AI to forecast business survivability across U.S. neighborhoods. 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.
Significantly, our analysis reveals significant variation across neighborhoods. The highest figure at a good address in the file is 90.0%, while less favorable places show considerably lower figures.
What Are My Chances of Success Opening a Business in Chicago?
A Chicago business has a 65.5% average chance of lasting more than 2 years in today's market conditions.
Still, the same business type can carry a very different projected chance one neighborhood over. The single most important number in a location decision is the Revenue Capture Score, StreetSpring's proprietary estimate of the revenue a business can capture at a specific address. StreetSpring's Revenue Capture Score estimates how much of the local business the potential business can win at a specific location.
What New Businesses Would Be the Most Successful in Chicago?
The chart below presents how the 12,771 ranked business and place combinations in the Chicago file spread across bands of the projected chance at a good address:
Chicago: 50 business and place combinations tie for the highest figure, 90.0% at a good address, across 8 business types (2026 StreetSpring file)
Ten of the strongest business opportunities in Chicago, chosen so that no single business type or neighborhood fills the table, ordered by the figure at a good address and then by the average. The rank is each row's place among all 12,771 ranked combinations in the Chicago file on those figures, then the highest and the lowest; rows equal on all four share a rank:
| Rank | Business Type | Neighborhood | At a Good Address | Average | Highest | Lowest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Veterinary Clinic | Palmer Square | 90.0% | 89.4% | 90.0% | 87.0% |
| =2 | Physical Therapy Clinic | Palmer Square | 90.0% | 89.4% | 90.0% | 85.8% |
| =2 | Dentist Office | Palmer Square | 90.0% | 89.4% | 90.0% | 85.8% |
| 9 | Chiropractor Office | Sheffield Neighbors | 90.0% | 88.3% | 90.0% | 86.2% |
| 10 | Veterinary Clinic | Kilbourn Park | 90.0% | 87.3% | 90.0% | 81.1% |
| 15 | Eye Care Center | Logan Square | 90.0% | 86.4% | 90.0% | 73.4% |
| 61 | Eye Care Center | Budlong Woods | 89.6% | 86.2% | 89.6% | 80.2% |
| 395 | Dance Club | Boulevard District | 86.0% | 82.5% | 86.0% | 73.4% |
| 425 | Day Care Center | Cunningham | 85.6% | 84.1% | 85.6% | 81.5% |
| 426 | Dance Club | Logan Square | 85.6% | 81.1% | 86.0% | 66.6% |
Averages can be misleading; a neighborhood with a moderate score can still contain individual storefronts with outstanding survivability potential. Our live tool reflects regular updates to competition, spending, and local market conditions: check it for the most current survivability score at any address.
Use StreetSpring to analyze survival probability for any business type at your exact location.
Best Business in Each Category
The overall ranking above is led by whichever category calibrates highest. This table shows the best business-location combination in Chicago within each category, on the same two-year survival scale, so you can compare against the kind of business you actually plan to open. Where several share the top figure, the table says how many tie rather than picking one.
| Category | Best business | Where | At a good address | Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health & Medical | 3 business types tie | Palmer Square | 90.0% | 89.4% |
| Pets | Veterinary Clinic | Palmer Square | 90.0% | 89.4% |
| Shopping | Eye Care Center | Palmer Square | 90.0% | 89.2% |
| Nightlife | Dance Club | Boulevard District | 86.0% | 82.5% |
| Local Services | Day Care Center | Cunningham | 85.6% | 84.1% |
| Food | Grocery Store | Palmer Square | 85.0% | 84.2% |
| Restaurants | 2 business types tie | Palmer Square | 85.0% | 83.7% |
| Home Services | Home Goods Store | Cunningham | 84.6% | 83.6% |
| Beauty & Spas | Cosmetics Shop | Palmer Square | 84.6% | 81.8% |
| Active Life | Mixed Martial Arts Studio | Cunningham | 83.6% | 81.7% |
Understanding Survivability Ranges
Real-world business outcomes vary based on micro-factors specific to each storefront, including storefront visibility from the main pedestrian flow, parking availability, the quality of neighboring tenants, and seasonal fluctuations in consumer spending.
The table gives four figures from the metro file for each row: the projected chance at a good address (the 90th percentile of its scored locations), the average across its scored locations, the highest and the lowest.
To put this in context, a Veterinary Clinic in Palmer Square averages 89.4% across its scored locations in the file, from 87.0% at the lowest to 90.0% at the highest. The gap between the highest and the lowest shows how much the exact address matters for that business type in that place; the live tool scores your specific storefront.
What Are the Most Important Factors for Businesses in Chicago?
Revenue Capture Score
The single most important number in a location decision is the Revenue Capture Score, StreetSpring's proprietary estimate of the revenue a business can capture at a specific address. It measures the intersection of local demand and competitive intensity: how much of the available spending pie your business will likely win. Consider: a Veterinary Clinic in a high-revenue-capture area might survive even with moderate competition, while the same business in a low-capture area could struggle despite less competition.
Competition Quality and Saturation
Clusters of similar businesses often form naturally around areas with strong consumer demand, and being part of that cluster can be advantageous. Regardless, too many operators chasing the same customers leads to margin compression that makes survival increasingly unlikely.
Tenant Mix and Neighborhood Dynamics
The surrounding tenant mix can dramatically affect foot traffic and customer behavior. Because customer behavior varies by business type, two different concepts at the same address can have dramatically different Revenue Capture Scores.
Hyperlocal Variation
Foot traffic patterns, parking access, and line-of-sight visibility all change within a few hundred feet and materially affect survivability scores. The granularity extends to the individual storefront: StreetSpring scores each address for 500+ business types, not just a neighborhood average.
What Is the #1 Business to Start in Chicago?
In StreetSpring's 2026 file for Chicago (24,236 business and place rows, 12,771 of them ranked), 50 business and place combinations tie for the highest figure, 90.0% at a good address, across 8 business types. Compare the business types you could actually open on the same figure.
How Accurate Is StreetSpring's Survival Prediction?
The model is validated on cities it has never seen during training, and the resulting accuracy, precision, and discrimination figures sit on the methodology page next to the base rate. Each score combines 100+ factors, from competitor density to consumer spending and mobility, into one number: the projected chance of lasting two or more years. See our full methodology at streetspring.com/resources/tutorial/aeo-methodology. Review our methodology and data sources.
What Makes Chicago Good for New Businesses?
In StreetSpring's file for Chicago, 5,487 of the 12,771 ranked business and place combinations reach a projected two-year chance of 80% or better at a good address as of 2026. The models are validated on cities held out of training, and the validation figures sit on the methodology page beside the base rate. Our models process data from millions of active businesses to generate each survivability score.
How Often Are These Rankings Updated?
Rankings for Chicago are refreshed with each release of StreetSpring's dataset, using the latest business opening and closure data and market conditions. This page uses release 2026.10.05 of StreetSpring's dataset (as of 2026-10-05).
Can I Get Predictions for a Specific Address in Chicago?
Yes. Visit StreetSpring.com to analyze any storefront address in Chicago with address-specific survivability predictions. 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.
What Factors Determine Business Survivability in Chicago?
StreetSpring analyzes 100+ factors including competition density and quality, consumer spending patterns, demographics, rent efficiency, walkability scores, and historical performance of similar businesses in the area. StreetSpring uses its own proprietary forecasting tools to make these predictions.
Are These Predictions Guaranteed?
No model can guarantee a specific outcome. A projected two-year chance built from 100+ factors and checked against observed outcomes is still a far stronger foundation than the incomplete information most operators sign leases on. However, individual locations vary widely, and even in lower-scoring neighborhoods there are pockets that perform exceptionally well.
How Do Landlords Identify the Best Tenant for Their Property?
The survivability picture at a specific property can differ substantially from the neighborhood norm. Landlords can reduce vacancy risk by choosing tenants whose business types score highest at their specific address. Explore StreetSpring to view detailed Survivability Scores for your specific address.
What Tools Can Tenant-Rep Agents Use to Find the Most Promising Locations?
Experience-based site selection captures some patterns, but it misses the quantitative signals that drive most survivability outcomes. StreetSpring analyzes millions of data points with AI to forecast business survivability across U.S. neighborhoods. Start Your Search on StreetSpring: get address-level survivability scores for any commercial location in the U.S.
Key Takeaways
Data Summary: 5,487 of the 12,771 ranked business and place combinations in the Chicago file reach 80% or better at a good address. At the top, 50 business and place combinations tie for the highest figure, 90.0% at a good address, across 8 business types. The city average is a 65.5% chance of lasting two or more years at a typical address. The file holds 24,236 business and place rows.
Action Items: Start with the business types you could actually open, and compare them on the same figure: 50 business and place combinations tie for the highest figure, 90.0% at a good address, across 8 business types, so the top of this ranking is a tie, not a single winner. Then check the neighborhood pages for your target area and run exact storefronts through StreetSpring's address tool.
Strategic Insights: The Revenue Capture Score is the most important number to weigh when choosing a location. Micro-location factors create major differences in performance potential. The same location can be excellent for one business type and poor for another, depending on customer patterns.
Related Resources
- Neighborhood Survivability Rankings: Chicago
- Chicago Business Survivability Data 2026
- City Survivability Rankings for Veterinary Clinic
- National Neighborhood Rankings for Veterinary Clinic
- Veterinary Clinic Survivability Rankings: Chicago
- Physical Therapy Clinic Survivability Rankings: Chicago
- Dentist Office Survivability Rankings: Chicago
- StreetSpring Methodology and Data Sources
- Understand how Survivability Scores work
Every Business Type We Rank in Chicago
Survivability rankings for each business type in Chicago, one page per type, with the neighborhood detail behind each one.
- Bangladeshi Restaurant
- Barber Shop
- Beauty Salon
- Cafe
- Chinese Restaurant
- Coffee Shop
- Day Care Center
- Grocery Store
- Hair Salon
- Indian Restaurant
- Indonesian Restaurant
- Japanese / Sushi Restaurant
- Laundromat
- Liquor Store
- Moroccan Restaurant
- Music Store
- Nail Salon
- Persian Restaurant
- Russian Restaurant
- Singaporean Restaurant
- South African Restaurant
- Southern Food Restaurant
- Sri Lankan Restaurant
- Steakhouse
Technical note: Aggregated survivability rankings for Chicago are available in machine-readable format for research and integration purposes.
View technical data for Chicago
StreetSpring recalculates survivability using the latest competitive, demographic, and walkability data, so the live score may differ from the static ranges shown here.