new businesses licensed in Chicago, January 1 – October 1, 2026, against 2,849 during the same period in 2025.
What the data shows
2026 formation is running below 2025
Chicago licensed 2,282 new businesses between January 1 – October 1, 2026 — down 19.9% from the 2,849 licensed over the same dates in 2025. The movement steepened through the year: Q2 was down 6.7% from 2025, Q3 down 38.8%.
Q3 exceeded Q2 by −33.0%
During 2026, Q3 was down 33.0% from Q2 (601 against 897). The same step a year earlier was up 2.2% (982 against 961).
The gains are in the neighborhoods, not downtown
Among community areas with at least 30 new licenses in both windows, there was movement in both directions. Biggest gains: Belmont Cragin (+23.4%, 58 vs 47) and Edgewater (+11.9%, 47 vs 42). Biggest declines: New City (−72.0%, 33 vs 118), West Ridge (−46.7%, 32 vs 60) and Irving Park (−39.7%, 35 vs 58). The Loop is on the losing side of the split: 95 new businesses were licensed downtown compared to 131 a year earlier, down 27.5%, while the gains sit in the neighborhoods.
Formation peaked in 2021 and has not approached that level since
Chicago has not been back to its 2021 mark of 4,096: 2021 4,096 · 2022 3,814 · 2023 3,694 · 2024 3,625 · 2025 3,716. 2025 finished down 9.3% from that peak. 2026 is trending toward roughly 3,000 first-time licenses for the full year, with the remainder projected from the prior two years' seasonal patterns.
By month
New businesses licensed in Chicago monthly, January 1 – October 1, 2026, compared to calendar months of 2025.
Monthly figures
By quarter, 2026 vs 2025
Where
The 15 Chicago community areas with the most new business licenses, January 1 – October 1, 2026, vs the same dates in 2025.
Change is shown where an area recorded at least 30new licenses this year; where the prior year’s count is under 30, read the percentage as movement on a small base rather than a trend. Community areas are Chicago’s 77 official statistical neighborhoods.
What kind of license
The most common license types for new businesses, January 1 – October 1, 2026, vs the same dates in 2025 — the City of Chicago's raw license types.
These are the City’s own license names, counted once per business at its first-ever license. Change is shown where a type recorded at least 30 this year; a prior-year count under 30 makes the percentage movement on a small base.
What kind of business
The business types with the most new licenses in Chicago, January 1 – October 1, 2026, vs the same dates in 2025 — grouped by BizPulse's proprietary category attributions.
Categories are BizPulse groupings of the City’s license types. Change is shown where a category recorded at least 30 this year; a prior-year count under 30 makes the percentage movement on a small base.
Mapped
Every new business licensed in Chicago in this window that the City geocoded (1,953 of 2,282), January 1 – October 1, 2026. Filter by category, then click a pin for the business, its neighborhood, and the month it was licensed.
Map of 1,953 mapped businesses, January 1 – October 1, 2026. Scroll to load.
Business closures
Businesses whose last Chicago license expired without renewal, July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026 — the 4 most recent quarters old enough to measure, against the same quarters a year earlier.
business license records went dark in Chicago, July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026.
Where the churn is, by category
Both columns cover July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026and exclude pop-up/transient permits. “Newly licensed” counts first-ever licenses; a business that changed hands can appear on both sides of the ledger. Categories are BizPulse’s proprietary groupings, ranked by closures rather than listed exhaustively.
The longer view
First-ever Chicago business licenses by completed calendar year, with 2026 shown year to date.
The 2026 figure covers January 1 – October 1, 2026 only. It is a partial year and is not comparable to the completed years beside it — for a year-to-date comparison, see the 2025 figure at the top of this page.
How this data works
- What counts. "New businesses" = accounts receiving their first-ever Chicago business license, excluding pop-up/transient permits. A business is counted once, in the month its first-ever license start date falls. Pop-up and transient permits are excluded from every figure on this page.
- Licensed, not open. Counts are based on first-ever Chicago business licenses. A license is not an opening date — some businesses open weeks later, and some are already operating when the license is issued.
- Closures. "Business closures" = accounts whose last Chicago business license expired and was not renewed within 90 days, excluding pop-up/transient permits.The 90-day horizon is part of the metric: late renewals keep arriving for months after a license expires, so a quarter’s closure count is measured once, 90 days after the quarter ends, and every quarter is measured by that same rule. That is why the closures section runs through the most recent settled quarter rather than to today. A lapsed license is not proof a business closed — relocations, ownership changes, and renewals arriving after the 90-day mark all end a license record the same way.
- Source. BizPulse analysis of the City of Chicago’s complete business license archive — over 1.2 million records dating back to 2002, refreshed monthly. BizPulse is not affiliated with the City of Chicago; the City is the source of the underlying records.
- Year-to-date comparisons. January 1 – October 1, 2026 — January 1 through the latest day available (currently October 1, 2026). Every prior-year figure uses the same month and day bounds, so a partial year is never compared to a completed one.
- Rankings and remainders. 278 of the 2,282 businesses in this window carry no community area on the City record yet, and the tables rank the largest entries rather than every one — so table rows do not sum to the citywide total. Year-over-year change is shown only for rows with at least 30records this year; where the prior year’s count is under 30, the percentage rests on a small base.
Citing this report
Reporters and analysts are welcome to use these figures. Please cite:
Source: BizPulse Chicago analysis of City of Chicago business license records, January 1 – October 1, 2026.
This page is updated daily: the URL never changes and the figures refresh every day, so a link filed today still resolves to updated numbers. We report on this data quarterly, as each of Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4 closes. Questions about the methodology, or a cut of the data you need for a story? hello@trybizpulse.com.