About business licenses
Summary
Each business in Chicago generally needs a license to operate — and the city issues thousands each year. You can learn about licenses recently issued near you in this section of EveryBlock.
The data, which comes from the Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Licenses, includes the location of the business and when the license was issued, the type of license (from auctioneers to weapons dealers), the expiration date and the structure of the business (e.g., corporation, LLC or sole proprietor).
Note that not all businesses are licensed by the city. See more below.
Source
The data comes from the Business License Holders Search database from the Chicago Department of Business Affairs & Licensing. The information is updated every business day, and EveryBlock retrieves new data each night.
Why are there spikes in the number of renewals, and which businesses aren't covered here?
A large number of licenses are renewed on the same day each quarter, which accounts for large spikes in the number of renewals every few months.
In general, business licenses must be renewed every two years. Renewal periods are based on the ZIP code of the initial location of the business. See the renewal periods listed by ZIP code.
Some businesses don't need a city license, though they might still have to pay city taxes. The Department of Business Affairs and Licensing provides a list of businesses that might be exempt.
The department also publishes a Guide to Starting a Business, which covers the tax, filing, inspection and registration aspects of the process.
For privacy reasons, we at EveryBlock do not publish Chicago business licenses with a structure of "Individual," nor do we publish licenses for street performers or peddlers. Such licenses tend to identify individuals' home addresses. They are, however, still published in the city's official Business License Holders Search database.
