Generated evidence · pending editorial review

West Lawn: All categories — Business licenses

All categories · all other available filters

City source retrieved November 5, 2026 · scan evaluated November 9, 2026 · Review context · not a qualifying candidate

Current dashboard records may have been revised. Analyze is a separate action there. Saved-for-review choices stay in this browser and do not endorse a result.

24-month frequency comparison

Annual-only flag · window-sensitive review context. The two-year comparison does not qualify for the frequency ranking. The annual evidence is retained below, not erased.

October 2022–September 2024
464
October 2024–September 2026
415
Change in monthly mean
-2.04

The two windows each contain 24 complete covered months. The magnitude of the change is 1.12-fold. These are published license records, not a population-adjusted rate. Fixed windows do not establish a breakpoint, remove all seasonal effects or prove a renewal explanation.

12-month comparison · context, not the business ranking

October 2024–September 2025
159
October 2025–September 2026
256
Change in monthly mean
8.08

This annual comparison crosses the original screening gates. Two-year renewal schedules can put a pulse in one annual window and not the other. Opposing directions or threshold sensitivity can have other explanations; an annual-only label is not proof of a renewal cycle.

Saved observations and fitted phases

No clear change in celeration under this rule. This does not mean counts were constant.

Fixed six-log-cycle frame · 120 calendar months · factors per six months. Raw zeros stay zero; confirmed zeros become one only for log-space fitting and diagnostics. Missing coverage remains unavailable.

Monthly business license records on a standard celeration chartCity of Chicago published records. Fixed six-decade count scale, 120 calendar months, celeration per 6 months. Zero markers are unconnected below the plot. Exact counts and coverage are available in the data table. Analyze: suggested. No clear change in celeration under this rule. This does not mean counts were constant. See the phase results table for dates, factors and uncertainty.1510501005001,0005,00010,00050,000100,000500,0001,000,000License records per monthsuggested phase 1: 2016-10–2026-09Oct 2016: 17Nov 2016: 21Dec 2016: 10Jan 2017: 8Feb 2017: 13Mar 2017: 25Apr 2017: 18May 2017: 15Jun 2017: 17Jul 2017: 13Aug 2017: 11Sep 2017: 10Oct 2017: 175Nov 2017: 46Dec 2017: 9Jan 2018: 18Feb 2018: 10Mar 2018: 13Apr 2018: 13May 2018: 17Jun 2018: 15Jul 2018: 14Aug 2018: 20Sep 2018: 15Oct 2018: 16Nov 2018: 16Dec 2018: 10Jan 2019: 9Feb 2019: 13Mar 2019: 20Apr 2019: 15May 2019: 23Jun 2019: 21Jul 2019: 8Aug 2019: 15Sep 2019: 9Oct 2019: 152Nov 2019: 41Dec 2019: 13Jan 2020: 13Feb 2020: 14Mar 2020: 13Apr 2020: 13May 2020: 10Jun 2020: 8Jul 2020: 19Aug 2020: 14Sep 2020: 19Oct 2020: 17Nov 2020: 15Dec 2020: 5Jan 2021: 9Feb 2021: 13Mar 2021: 19Apr 2021: 13May 2021: 18Jun 2021: 19Jul 2021: 17Aug 2021: 10Sep 2021: 17Oct 2021: 137Nov 2021: 37Dec 2021: 9Jan 2022: 11Feb 2022: 16Mar 2022: 15Apr 2022: 12May 2022: 14Jun 2022: 15Jul 2022: 15Aug 2022: 17Sep 2022: 24Oct 2022: 13Nov 2022: 13Dec 2022: 7Jan 2023: 9Feb 2023: 16Mar 2023: 18Apr 2023: 11May 2023: 13Jun 2023: 18Jul 2023: 15Aug 2023: 19Sep 2023: 14Oct 2023: 115Nov 2023: 34Dec 2023: 10Jan 2024: 9Feb 2024: 15Mar 2024: 15Apr 2024: 14May 2024: 18Jun 2024: 13Jul 2024: 16Aug 2024: 14Sep 2024: 25Oct 2024: 18Nov 2024: 13Dec 2024: 11Jan 2025: 5Feb 2025: 13Mar 2025: 25Apr 2025: 11May 2025: 10Jun 2025: 12Jul 2025: 13Aug 2025: 15Sep 2025: 13Oct 2025: 101Nov 2025: 27Dec 2025: 12Jan 2026: 11Feb 2026: 11Mar 2026: 16Apr 2026: 10May 2026: 14Jun 2026: 14Jul 2026: 13Aug 2026: 10Sep 2026: 17ZeroUnknownOct 2016Oct 2017Oct 2018Oct 2019Oct 2020Oct 2021Oct 2022Oct 2023Oct 2024Oct 2025Oct 2026Calendar months

Suggested trend · exploratory · per six months

  1. 1 · Oct 2016–Sep 2026÷1.01Direction uncertain

Check the evidence

Interpretation and limitations (12)
  • Exploratory description, not a forecast, causal explanation or proof of a change.
  • Approximate 95% factor intervals assume independent, constant-variance log residuals and fixed boundaries. They do not account for boundary search, serial dependence or source revisions.
  • Confirmed zeros are treated as 1 only for fitting and its diagnostics. Raw counts stay zero; low-count results depend on this convention.
  • Independent phase lines may jump at boundaries. Every observation belongs to exactly one phase.
  • Reporting, classifications and seasonality can change. Counts are not population-adjusted; a level shift without a slope change is not the target of this search.
  • Uses dated last-good cached data, not newly verified source counts.
  • At least one factor interval includes 1; its direction is uncertain under this approximation.
  • License records include renewals and use license-term dates. Category/ward changes and administrative practice can affect counts; these are not business openings, closures or employment.
  • Business frequency screening compares adjacent 24-month windows, requiring 48 complete months. The 12-month comparison is context only. Fixed two-year windows reduce renewal-calendar mismatch; they are not seasonal adjustment, proof of a renewal mechanism, or a test of stability.
  • Window assessment: annual-only. Annual-only flags do not enter the frequency ranking. Opposite directions and short history must not be described as persistent changes.
  • Many dependent filter conditions were searched. No multiple-testing-adjusted significance or causal attribution is claimed.
  • Frequency compares fixed equal-length windows of raw counts, not population risk or a celeration-factor ratio. Reporting, classifications and exposure may have changed.
Phase diagnostics

Intervals assume fixed boundaries and independent log residuals. They are not adjusted for the phase or filter search. Near-optimal boundary ranges are not confidence intervals.

Saved phase results
PhaseStart–endMonthsFactor / six monthsConditional 95% intervalZeros fitted as 1Lag-one residual
1October 2016–September 2026120÷1.010.9763–1.01300.213
Exact monthly observations (120 slots)

Newest first. Unknown coverage is not a zero. These are the original saved observations, not fitted or rounded predictions.

Raw monthly license records
MonthRaw countCoverage
September 202617complete
August 202610complete
July 202613complete
June 202614complete
May 202614complete
April 202610complete
March 202616complete
February 202611complete
January 202611complete
December 202512complete
November 202527complete
October 2025101complete
September 202513complete
August 202515complete
July 202513complete
June 202512complete
May 202510complete
April 202511complete
March 202525complete
February 202513complete
January 20255complete
December 202411complete
November 202413complete
October 202418complete
September 202425complete
August 202414complete
July 202416complete
June 202413complete
May 202418complete
April 202414complete
March 202415complete
February 202415complete
January 20249complete
December 202310complete
November 202334complete
October 2023115complete
September 202314complete
August 202319complete
July 202315complete
June 202318complete
May 202313complete
April 202311complete
March 202318complete
February 202316complete
January 20239complete
December 20227complete
November 202213complete
October 202213complete
September 202224complete
August 202217complete
July 202215complete
June 202215complete
May 202214complete
April 202212complete
March 202215complete
February 202216complete
January 202211complete
December 20219complete
November 202137complete
October 2021137complete
September 202117complete
August 202110complete
July 202117complete
June 202119complete
May 202118complete
April 202113complete
March 202119complete
February 202113complete
January 20219complete
December 20205complete
November 202015complete
October 202017complete
September 202019complete
August 202014complete
July 202019complete
June 20208complete
May 202010complete
April 202013complete
March 202013complete
February 202014complete
January 202013complete
December 201913complete
November 201941complete
October 2019152complete
September 20199complete
August 201915complete
July 20198complete
June 201921complete
May 201923complete
April 201915complete
March 201920complete
February 201913complete
January 20199complete
December 201810complete
November 201816complete
October 201816complete
September 201815complete
August 201820complete
July 201814complete
June 201815complete
May 201817complete
April 201813complete
March 201813complete
February 201810complete
January 201818complete
December 20179complete
November 201746complete
October 2017175complete
September 201710complete
August 201711complete
July 201713complete
June 201717complete
May 201715complete
April 201718complete
March 201725complete
February 201713complete
January 20178complete
December 201610complete
November 201621complete
October 201617complete
Source and reproducibility
Publisher dataset
Business Licenses · City of Chicago
Source retrieved
2026-11-05T21:09:58.696Z
Publisher update
2026-11-05T11:01:01.000Z
Covered months
October 2016–September 2026
Source note
Source xqx5-8hwx. Joint day/category/hour/applicable-flag/ward/status counts; no addresses, coordinates or incident identifiers. Each year's cells reconcile with an independent source total. Reads are not an atomic publisher snapshot. License records by term start, including renewals; not new businesses. Ward is as published, not reconstructed historical boundaries. Prepared daily community-area snapshot; scheduled rebuild at 06:00 America/Chicago. Full supported history is rechecked for corrections. Retrieval timestamps are preserved; this is not a real-time feed. Local indexed neighborhood snapshot. Totals are for the loaded area before other filters, not citywide totals. Citywide and unassigned-area views use a separate network-backed scope.
Snapshot
daily-v1:8a9771a7-dde2-4246-9cf6-d11519e895d6:neighborhood-v2:edce0404a638e74f7b345c1fa3cdba5f
Discovery method
multi-feed-turn-and-frequency-renewal-v2
Analyze method
exploratory-segmented-log10-ols-zero-as-one-v3
Search plan
a3ffccedeb8d8ce18a30df3636839f775af1e5188e55a1f685695133135c6e35
Evidence run
89427458e47db6464ef933bc783924800b4c5bcfac33aa8ea42f8f471aa8767d

Challenge the pattern

Check unfiltered totals, comparable communities, source revisions and administrative definitions before treating this candidate as evidence of a real-world explanation. Only explicitly documented follow-ups above have been performed; no others are implied by the ranking. Browse the other business licenses candidates or review the complete screening method.