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Yelp Says If You Want To Open A Business, Do It In These 5 Neighborhoods

By Tanveer Ali | October 23, 2017 5:42am | Updated on October 27, 2017 11:34am

CHICAGO — Five Chicago neighborhoods made online local review site Yelp's list of America's Top 50 "most improved neighborhoods for economic opportunity."

The term doesn't refer to neighborhoods with the most businesses or the largest businesses, but neighborhoods where if a business opens, it has a high chance of staying in business months later.

Chicago neighborhoods that made the list were Bucktown (No. 11), Lincoln Park (No. 15), Andersonville (No. 26), Near North Side (No. 28) and West Lawn (No. 47).

"We can't say that every new business will succeed in these neighborhoods, but these are some neighborhoods that are more promising options when someone is looking to open a business," Yelp's data science editor Carl Bialik said.

Bialik noted that many of the neighborhoods on Yelp's list of 50 neighborhoods were like West Lawn, not necessarily central or famous neighborhoods in their cities. That's because the list doesn't necessarily focus on the current number of businesses listed in a given neighborhood, but on the potential that a new business will succeed.

Chicago itself didn't rate high on Yelp's study. It came in at 38th among big cities, well below first place Charlotte, N.C., but above Seattle and New York City.

Read more of the study.