Ranked 3rd of 387 metropolitan areas in the United States, Chicago, IL counts 9.37 million residents. A count of the local trades and a read on where advertising is contested and where it is open.
Officially the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metropolitan statistical area, it takes in Chicago, Naperville and Elgin across Illinois and Indiana.
The typical household income is $90,887, 13 percent above the national figure. For housing, the median value is $323,000, 3 percent below the national figure. Read together, they frame the buying power of the market.
Age and education shape how people search and who answers the phone. The median resident is 38.6 years old, about the same as the national median. 65.5% of homes are lived in by their owners, about the same as the US share. Among adults 25 and over, 41.6% have at least a bachelor's degree, 6 points above the US share. Unemployment 6.1%, about the same as the US share.
Relative to Illinois, household income in Chicago, IL is 9 percent higher than the Illinois figure, home values are 23 percent higher than the Illinois figure, and businesses per 1,000 residents are 4 percent denser than the Illinois figure.
248,519 businesses with employees operate in Chicago, IL. Business density is a first proxy for competition: 26.5 per 1,000 residents, 6 percent above the national figure. The home-services trades that most often advertise locally number 11,401 establishments, a 4.6% share, about the same as the US share. The most numerous category on this page is restaurants at 17,823.
| Business type | Establishments | Per 100k residents | Share ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Concrete foundation and structure contractors | 482 | 5.1 | 0.69× |
| Lessors of real estate (all) | 2,960 | 31.6 | 0.73× |
| Highway, street and bridge construction | 212 | 2.3 | 0.77× |
| Automobile dealers | 1,073 | 11.4 | 0.77× |
| Electrical contractors | 2,079 | 22.2 | 0.84× |
| Self-storage facilities | 474 | 5.1 | 0.86× |
| Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors | 3,042 | 32.5 | 0.92× |
| Grocery and convenience retailers | 2,719 | 29 | 0.92× |
| Other specialty trade contractors (paving, asphalt, fencing) | 1,227 | 13.1 | 0.97× |
| Restaurants and other eating places | 17,823 | 190.2 | 0.97× |
| Physicians' offices | 6,369 | 68 | 0.98× |
| Roofing contractors | 768 | 8.2 | 1.01× |
| Child day care services | 2,588 | 27.6 | 1.06× |
| Personal care services (all) | 5,098 | 54.4 | 1.07× |
| Landscaping services | 3,803 | 40.6 | 1.08× |
| General automotive repair | 2,886 | 30.8 | 1.14× |
| Legal services | 6,226 | 66.4 | 1.16× |
| Beauty salons | 2,935 | 31.3 | 1.17× |
| Dentists | 4,881 | 52.1 | 1.21× |
| General freight trucking | 11,080 | 118.2 | 3.18× |
Ratio above 1.00: the trade holds a bigger share of the local business base than it does nationally; below 1.00, a smaller one.
Crowded categories in Chicago, IL: general freight trucking, dentists, beauty salons and legal services. The sharpest example is general freight trucking: 11,080 establishments, 3.2 times the share seen nationally. Less common here than nationally: concrete contractors, real estate lessors, road and paving contractors and automobile dealers. Concrete contractors: 482 establishments, about 69% of the national share. Roughly where the national mix would put them: plumbing and HVAC contractors, roofing contractors and specialty trade contractors.
The most numerous of the listed trades: restaurants with 17,823 establishments, then general freight trucking (11,080) and physicians' offices (6,369). Relative to population the leaders are restaurants (190.2 per 100,000 residents), general freight trucking and physicians' offices. Grouped, trucking, storage, real estate and road construction hold 1.8 times the share they hold nationally, while the home-services trades sit at about the same as.
With general freight trucking, dentists and beauty salons over-indexed, the cost of a click rises and so does the value of everything that happens after it: a page that loads fast, a number that is answered, a review profile that settles the comparison. The thin categories, concrete contractors, real estate lessors and road and paving contractors, are the cheapest place to build a name: fewer bidders, cheaper clicks, and searchers with fewer options. With a median age about the same as the national median, expect more discovery through maps, short video and AI answers; search alone covers less of the market. Incomes 13 percent above the national figure give room for premium service tiers; ads that lead with quality and speed rather than price tend to fit.
Matched to the data: the services most likely to earn their cost in Chicago, IL.
Search optimization aimed at the local queries that produce calls.
Design and build of a site that turns local traffic into leads.
Billboard buys on digital boards in the market.
Replies to reviews, written and posted for the business.
Google search ads for the exact services and towns, tracked to the phone call.
Listing management for the map results that most local searches start and end with.
Chicago, IL has 9.37 million residents (US Census Bureau ACS 2024 5-year estimate), ranking 3rd of 387 metropolitan areas.
The median household income in Chicago, IL is $90,887 (ACS 2024 5-year), above the US median of $80,734.
The Census Bureau counts 248,519 employer establishments in Chicago, IL (County Business Patterns 2023), or 26.5 businesses per 1,000 residents.
The median home value in Chicago, IL is $323,000, and 65.5% of homes are owner-occupied (ACS 2024 5-year).
Measured against the US business mix (County Business Patterns 2023), general freight trucking, dentists and beauty salons have more establishments per resident than the US average; concrete contractors, real estate lessors and road and paving contractors have fewer in Chicago, IL.
Tell us the trade and the area; we will show you what the competition looks like and what it takes to be found.
Data: US Census Bureau ACS 2024 5-year estimates and County Business Patterns 2023. Updated 2026-09-29.