Summary Table of Business Licenses
year | Observations | Mean | Median | SD | Max | Min |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2,012 | 97 | 29.13402 | 3.0 | 40.14443 | 146 | 1 |
2,013 | 75 | 29.60000 | 23.0 | 31.03877 | 93 | 1 |
2,014 | 79 | 28.16456 | 18.0 | 32.16521 | 107 | 1 |
2,015 | 80 | 29.93750 | 12.5 | 32.73149 | 99 | 1 |
2,016 | 72 | 28.01389 | 24.0 | 27.60358 | 104 | 1 |
2,017 | 79 | 30.15190 | 22.0 | 32.48751 | 118 | 1 |
2,018 | 60 | 31.86667 | 32.5 | 25.37212 | 82 | 1 |
2,019 | 60 | 33.81667 | 33.0 | 28.05895 | 82 | 1 |
2,020 | 55 | 26.85455 | 26.0 | 22.34197 | 83 | 1 |
2,021 | 58 | 31.01724 | 30.5 | 24.26209 | 87 | 1 |
2,022 | 62 | 30.82258 | 33.5 | 24.85402 | 86 | 1 |
2,023 | 71 | 28.28169 | 30.0 | 24.57303 | 87 | 1 |
2,024 | 58 | 29.75862 | 33.0 | 22.71356 | 81 | 1 |
2,025 | 58 | 30.75862 | 31.5 | 22.98841 | 86 | 1 |
This dashboard examines trends in business activity and public health in Chicago, utilizing data from publicly available APIs, including those from the U.S. Bureau and the City of Chicago Open Data portal.
The summary statistics show the distribution of weekly business lines per year based on available data from 2012 to 2025. The mean number of weekly licenses issued ranges between 28 and 33 per week. The 22 mean is the lowest, reflecting the impact of COVID-19 on business activity. Although it is close to the other means, it remains low enough to have a noticeable impact on the local economy. This is likely more prevalent since 2021-2023, the mean slowly climbs to where it was before the pandemic. Slight variation in 2024 but a general stability in 2025 so far this year. Based on the summary statistics, there is an impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to a clear dip in 2020 and a rebounding economy at least for some businesses that need licenses.
Licenses Issued by Year
The bar graph shows 2011, which is likely due to the limited data rather than an unusually low number of licenses issued that year. As for the rest of the years, while there is a noticeable decrease in 2020, it is not a huge decrease in the number of business licenses issued. There is a slight increase over the next few years, from 2021 to 2023. A slight dip in 2024, but the general trend remains increasing. Finally, the data for business licenses in 2025 shows a slight growth in the number of business licenses since 2024, although this could be due to variability.
Weekly License Trends in 2020
The line graph illustrates the number of business licenses issued per week during the first two months of the year. Then, a sharp increase in March is likely in preparation for closure, followed by sharp decreases in late March and April. A slow upward trend in late April into May. Showing that there were some initial issues with the pandemic, but generally not a large dispute, since businesses had time to prepare.
COVID-19 Cases by ZIP Code (606)
While the Clorepleth doesn’t have all its data, there are some general trends to gain from this map. However, some general insights are that the south side zip codes tend to have the highest case total, not surprisingly, since these zip codes have historically had the worst outcomes. The central and western zip codes, although densely populated with mixed incomes, tend to have lower infection rates. The north side tends to be pretty mixed with a more affluent population. Generally, there are no discernible trends or insights, as not only is there no complete data, but also no trends or patterns are currently present.