# Who gets found in Chicago?

Aug 30 → Sep 8 5 page-one leaders changed hands 12 new pages in the top 5

THE SEARCH LEDGER · CHICAGO EDITION · TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2026

Every month, Chicago types 13,417,250 searches looking for a local business, and advertisers pay $20.98M chasing them. Somebody gets found. Somebody doesn't. This is the weekly ledger of who, at what price, and what's still up for grabs — refreshed weekly.

BY [SEO BANDWAGON](https://seobandwagon.com/about) · UPDATED WEEKLY · COLLECTED SEPTEMBER 8, 2026 · [METHODOLOGY](https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo/chicago#methodology)

13,417,250

SEARCHES IN PLAY / MO

$20.98M

AD-EQUIV. VALUE / MO

1,232

LISTINGS TRACKED

13,173

KEYWORDS TRACKED

Chicago searches 38,883,180 times a month in total. The other 25,465,930 are branded or navigational — someone already knows where they are going, across 3,452 branded searches we track separately.

Source: [Google Ads](https://ads.google.com/home/tools/keyword-planner/) search volume and cost-per-click via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), Chicago DMA, twelve-month averages · pulled September 8, 2026. "Searches in play" counts commercial and transactional intent only, classified by our own heuristics rather than by Google. Ad-equivalent value is Σ volume × CPC — one click priced for every tracked search, a ceiling on what the traffic would cost to buy, not spend and not revenue. Listings: [Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps) results via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), Chicago DMA, deduped by place\_id · pulled September 8, 2026. Each category search returns at most 100 results, so this is a ceiling on what we see, not a census of the metro.

Free · sign in with Google · no credit card

## The demand

Before anyone wins a customer, the customer has to ask. Here is what Chicago asks Google for in an average month.

13,417,250

searches in an average month across the 4,586 keywords where a local business can actually be chosen — roughly **447,000 searches a day** for something, or someone, in Chicago.

### Where the demand goes

Each square is 1% of the addressable searches — the commercial and transactional ones a local business can win, 35% of everything Chicago searches.

Waffle chart of monthly search demand by vertical: Food & Dining 62 percent, Attractions 11 percent, Other 10 percent, Travel & Transit 8 percent, Hotels & Lodging 3 percent, Shopping 3 percent, Health & Wellness 2 percent, Personal Care 1 percent.

Source: [Google Ads](https://ads.google.com/home/tools/keyword-planner/) search volume and cost-per-click via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), Chicago DMA, twelve-month averages · pulled September 8, 2026, bucketed by our own vertical classifier — Google supplies no category. Squares are percentages of the addressable set, not of all search, and are largest-remainder rounded to 100.

Food & Dining 62% Attractions 11% Other 10% Travel & Transit 8% Hotels & Lodging 3% Shopping 3% Health & Wellness 2% Personal Care 1%

WHERE THE DEMAND CONCENTRATES

Food & Dining is **62% of the addressable demand** in Chicago, against 11% for Attractions. The board in Chapter 2 prices every one of those searches.

### When the demand comes

Search interest by month, 0–100 per vertical. The pink outline marks each vertical's peak — the month the phones ring.

Source: Google Ads monthly search volume via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), Chicago DMA · pulled September 8, 2026. Each row is indexed to its own peak month, so cells compare a vertical against itself and never against another row. Not a search count, and not [Google Trends](https://trends.google.com/).

| VERTICAL | JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP | OCT | NOV | DEC |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Education | 85 | 70 | 84 | 84 | 71 | 60 | 63 | 84 | 100 | 99 | 83 | 58 |
| Attractions | 45 | 42 | 64 | 63 | 83 | 95 | 100 | 98 | 71 | 70 | 62 | 65 |
| Food & Dining | 67 | 69 | 76 | 74 | 89 | 89 | 100 | 97 | 88 | 91 | 76 | 76 |
| Entertainment | 49 | 29 | 37 | 44 | 94 | 100 | 91 | 77 | 70 | 56 | 61 | 63 |
| Hotels & Lodging | 51 | 48 | 61 | 61 | 77 | 95 | 100 | 89 | 70 | 73 | 63 | 66 |
| Home Services | 73 | 71 | 75 | 69 | 70 | 76 | 73 | 100 | 94 | 84 | 67 | 63 |
| Shopping | 59 | 53 | 61 | 63 | 78 | 74 | 78 | 79 | 62 | 61 | 81 | 100 |
| Jobs & Careers | 97 | 89 | 99 | 100 | 88 | 91 | 91 | 96 | 75 | 77 | 63 | 65 |
| Travel & Transit | 66 | 63 | 77 | 72 | 84 | 100 | 85 | 98 | 83 | 84 | 84 | 72 |
| Personal Care | 60 | 57 | 70 | 64 | 82 | 77 | 82 | 100 | 75 | 65 | 60 | 62 |
| News & Media | 78 | 63 | 84 | 63 | 51 | 57 | 39 | 91 | 100 | 94 | 91 | 85 |
| Real Estate | 90 | 86 | 95 | 92 | 90 | 90 | 81 | 100 | 84 | 81 | 71 | 67 |
| Health & Wellness | 95 | 82 | 88 | 82 | 81 | 82 | 81 | 100 | 99 | 91 | 81 | 88 |
| Professional Services | 93 | 90 | 100 | 70 | 41 | 37 | 41 | 52 | 66 | 52 | 45 | 49 |
| Legal | 66 | 87 | 84 | 40 | 32 | 42 | 37 | 46 | 100 | 76 | 29 | 50 |

### Climbing fastest

The steepest risers in Chicago over the last twelve months of Google Ads volume (Aug 2025 – Jul 2026). Growth compares each keyword's last three months against its own twelve-month average, so it tops out at 300% by construction.

official cubs tickets ▲ 299% BREAKOUT

art institute of chicago buy tickets ▲ 298% BREAKOUT

astros v cubs ▲ 294% BREAKOUT

chicago 4th of july events ▲ 290% BREAKOUT

chicago nhl tickets ▲ 287% BREAKOUT

Source: Google Ads monthly search volume via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), Chicago DMA, Aug 2025 – Jul 2026. Not [Google Trends](https://trends.google.com/), and not a weekly series — the window closes one to two months before the pull.

### Where the demand sits

Priced keywords that name one of the places we mine for Chicago — its seed suburbs plus the boroughs Maps returned at least twice — grouped by that name. A metro is not one market. This ranks the places we look for, not every place that exists — a landmark or district we do not mine is absent however much demand names it, and a metro can miss a place that would have ranked near the top. 26 more clear the bar below these.

Lincoln Park NEIGHBORHOOD 360,910/mo

159 keywords · $154.0K/mo in ad-equivalent value

Millennium Park NEIGHBORHOOD 271,300/mo

8 keywords · $217.2K/mo in ad-equivalent value

Naperville SUBURB 219,400/mo

177 keywords · $495.4K/mo in ad-equivalent value

Arlington Heights SUBURB 174,750/mo

173 keywords · $253.5K/mo in ad-equivalent value

West Loop NEIGHBORHOOD 93,050/mo

112 keywords · $146.5K/mo in ad-equivalent value

Aurora SUBURB 88,660/mo

41 keywords · $634.2K/mo in ad-equivalent value

Downers Grove SUBURB 80,660/mo

27 keywords · $126.5K/mo in ad-equivalent value

Skokie SUBURB 58,940/mo

67 keywords · $65.8K/mo in ad-equivalent value

Logan Square NEIGHBORHOOD 47,680/mo

92 keywords · $52.5K/mo in ad-equivalent value

Wicker Park NEIGHBORHOOD 47,010/mo

98 keywords · $76.4K/mo in ad-equivalent value

Source: Computed from Google Ads search volume × CPC via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), Chicago DMA, September 8, 2026 — keywords grouped by the place name they contain. Rows are grouped by NAME CONTAINMENT, not by place: a keyword joins every row whose name it contains, so it is counted in both when it names two places AND when one row's name sits inside another's. So a shorter name sitting inside a longer one carries the longer one’s keywords too, and those two rows are not independent places. Rows rank names and do not sum to a metro total. Ad-equivalent value is Σ volume × CPC — a ceiling on what the traffic would cost to buy, not spend and not revenue.

**Lincoln Park** alone carries 360,910 searches a month across 159 keywords, worth $154.0K a month at Google's posted prices. If your pages only ever say "Chicago", that is demand you are not addressing.

## The money

Attention in this city has a spot price, and Google publishes it: the cost per ad click. Here's what a customer's attention trades for in Chicago.

"ACCIDENT ATTORNEY CHICAGO" · COST OF ONE AD CLICK

$434.09

One click. Not a customer — a *click*. That's what a single visit from this search trades for in Chicago right now.

### Every keyword has a price tag

The 12,263 of 13,173 tracked keywords Google Ads returns a cost-per-click for, on a log scale. Amber gets deeper as the click gets pricier.

Strip plot of 12263 tracked keywords by cost per click, log scale. Cheapest: evanston shops at $0.01. Most expensive: accident attorney chicago at $434.09.

### The price board

The 12,263 of 13,173 tracked keywords Google Ads returns a cost-per-click for. Volume and CPC are twelve-month averages, so neither moves week to week.

| # | KEYWORD | CPC | SEARCHES/MO | COST TO BUY ALL | Δ VS. LAST PULL |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | accident attorney chicago · LEGAL | $434.09 | 480 | $208.4K | — |
| 2 | tax professionals chicago · OTHER | $323.76 | 50 | $16.2K | — |
| 3 | best accident attorney in chicago · LEGAL | $283.68 | 10 | $2.8K | — |
| 4 | we buy homes chicago · OTHER | $237.28 | 10 | $2.4K | — |
| 5 | moving and storage services in chicago · OTHER | $217.07 | 10 | $2.2K | — |
| 6 | best window replacement chicago · OTHER | $211.12 | 20 | $4.2K | — |
| 7 | dog bite lawyer chicago · LEGAL | $180.37 | 210 | $37.9K | — |
| 8 | plumber 60625 · HOME SERVICES | $176.33 | 10 | $1.8K | — |
| 9 | chicago roofing service · HOME SERVICES | $159.55 | 110 | $17.6K | — |
| 10 | commercial roofing company chicago · HOME SERVICES | $147.33 | 50 | $7.4K | — |
| 11 | truck accident attorney in chicago · LEGAL | $145.47 | 1,300 | $189.1K | — |
| 12 | cash buyers in chicago · OTHER | $144.43 | 10 | $1.4K | — |
| 13 | condo kitchen remodel chicago · HOME SERVICES | $135.90 | 10 | $1.4K | — |
| 14 | chicago area contractors · HOME SERVICES | $132.97 | 10 | $1.3K | — |
| 15 | boston to chicago movers · OTHER | $132.07 | 10 | $1.3K | — |
| 16 | hardwood flooring contractors chicago · HOME SERVICES | $128.47 | 10 | $1.3K | — |
| 17 | auto accident attorneys chicago · LEGAL | $123.68 | 2,400 | $296.8K | — |
| 18 | top rated personal injury lawyers chicago · LEGAL | $122.91 | 110 | $13.5K | — |
| 19 | city of chicago licensed plumbers · HOME SERVICES | $120.75 | 50 | $6.0K | — |
| 20 | chicago out of state movers · OTHER | $120.04 | 10 | $1.2K | — |
| 21 | second city sound chicago · OTHER | $115.75 | 10 | $1.2K | — |
| 22 | chicago commercial painting · OTHER | $115.43 | 10 | $1.2K | — |
| 23 | personal injury lawyer near me · LEGAL | $111.31 | 8,100 | $901.6K | — |
| 24 | bookkeeping chicago · PROFESSIONAL SERVICES | $110.16 | 90 | $9.9K | — |
| 25 | 203k contractors chicago · HOME SERVICES | $108.20 | 10 | $1.1K | — |
| 26 | emergency hvac chicago · HOME SERVICES | $106.57 | 70 | $7.5K | — |
| 27 | garage door repair 60634 · HOME SERVICES | $106.24 | 10 | $1.1K | — |
| 28 | advanced moving and storage chicago · OTHER | $106.13 | 10 | $1.1K | — |
| 29 | plumber west loop chicago · HOME SERVICES | $101.08 | 40 | $4.0K | — |
| 30 | chicago pi lawyer · LEGAL | $100.67 | 5,400 | $543.6K | — |
| 31 | work injury lawyers chicago · LEGAL | $100.27 | 90 | $9.0K | — |
| 32 | expert roofing chicago · HOME SERVICES | $99.19 | 10 | $992 | — |
| 33 | chicago nursing home negligence attorneys · LEGAL | $94.98 | 10 | $950 | — |
| 34 | window contractor chicago · HOME SERVICES | $92.48 | 20 | $1.8K | — |
| 35 | gas stove repair chicago · OTHER | $90.54 | 10 | $905 | — |
| 36 | emergency garage door repair chicago · HOME SERVICES | $89.24 | 40 | $3.6K | — |
| 37 | residential plumber chicago · HOME SERVICES | $88.74 | 10 | $887 | — |
| 38 | plumber 60634 · HOME SERVICES | $87.80 | 10 | $878 | — |
| 39 | movers south suburbs chicago · OTHER | $84.76 | 10 | $848 | — |
| 40 | plumber 60614 · HOME SERVICES | $83.63 | 10 | $836 | — |
| 41 | clay tile roof repair chicago · HOME SERVICES | $83.08 | 10 | $831 | — |
| 42 | cheap plumber chicago · HOME SERVICES | $78.88 | 30 | $2.4K | — |
| 43 | chicago plumbing repair · HOME SERVICES | $78.65 | 70 | $5.5K | — |
| 44 | guardian hvac chicago · HOME SERVICES | $78.56 | 20 | $1.6K | — |
| 45 | viking appliance repair chicago · HOME SERVICES | $78.42 | 10 | $784 | — |
| 46 | commercial hvac repair chicago · HOME SERVICES | $77.97 | 10 | $780 | — |
| 47 | fh paschen chicago · OTHER | $77.34 | 140 | $10.8K | — |
| 48 | female therapist chicago · HEALTH & WELLNESS | $76.59 | 10 | $766 | — |
| 49 | garage door spring repair chicago · HOME SERVICES | $76.23 | 10 | $762 | — |
| 50 | emergency plumber near me · HOME SERVICES | $75.84 | 3,600 | $273.0K | — |

Source: [Google Ads](https://ads.google.com/home/tools/keyword-planner/) search volume and cost-per-click via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), Chicago DMA, twelve-month averages · pulled September 8, 2026. Bar length is CPC on a linear scale. "Cost to buy all" is searches × CPC — what the traffic would cost at Google's posted price if every search became a click, which is a ceiling, not a forecast. Δ compares each keyword's CPC against the Aug 30 pull; Google refreshes these figures roughly monthly, so most rows do not move between weekly pulls.

### Why would anyone pay $434 a click?

The businesses bidding here keep bidding. Here's the math that makes a $434 click rational, using legal industry benchmarks.

100 clicks bought −$43,409

15 become phone calls (15% call rate, benchmark)

3 become signed cases (20% close, benchmark)

Revenue from those 3 signed cases +$75,000 · 1.7× the spend

Call and close rates are vertical benchmarks, not promises. But the principle sets every price on the board: **a click costs what the customer behind it is worth.** Bounce rate is priced in.

ONE CUSTOMER FUNDS

How many clicks a single customer's revenue buys back, at that keyword's CPC. Customer values are industry benchmarks.

accident attorney chicago

~$25,000 case fee (benchmark) · $434.09/click

57 clicks

best window replacement chicago

~$9,500 job value (benchmark) · $211.12/click

44 clicks

condo renovation chicago

~$9,000 commission (benchmark) · $52.04/click

172 clicks

chicago bulls jordan

~$1,800 customer value (benchmark) · $0.01/click

180,000 clicks

Source: CPC: [Google Ads](https://ads.google.com/home/tools/keyword-planner/) search volume and cost-per-click via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), Chicago DMA, twelve-month averages · pulled September 8, 2026. Call rate, close rate and customer value are industry benchmarks hardcoded in this page — not measured for this metro, and not for your business. Spend, revenue and the multiple are all products of that one CPC and those assumptions.

Same market, different economies. This is why "is $X a click expensive?" has no answer without knowing what a customer is worth to *you*.

### What owning a vertical costs

Monthly ad-equivalent value of all clicks in each vertical — what you'd pay Google to buy the demand you could rank for.

Food & Dining $5,047,000/mo

Home Services $3,888,000/mo

Health & Wellness $2,616,000/mo

Legal $2,344,000/mo

Other $1,767,000/mo

Travel & Transit $1,743,000/mo

Ranking organically doesn't pay that bill — it makes it someone else's.

## The fight

A market this valuable doesn't sit unclaimed. Here's who holds Chicago's front page, who's climbing, who's slipping — and where the seats are still empty.

18%

of Chicago's tracked page-one slots are held by one of the 40 national directories we name. The other 82% is everything else — local businesses, and national brands we do not classify.

Waffle chart: 18 of 100 tracked page-one slots held by one of 40 named national directories, 82 by everything else.

out-of-town directories · 18 everything else · 82

Source: Google organic results via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), 21 tracked keywords anchored on the Chicago coordinate · pulled September 8, 2026. "Directory" means the domain's registrable label matches one of 40 named national directory brands; everything else is counted as the remainder, which includes national brands we do not classify.

### Two pulls of "chicago midway international airport"

Page-one position, last pull vs. this one: **maps.apple.com moved ▲ 4 spots**. The chart grows a column with every pull as the archive builds.

Bump chart of page-one positions for chicago midway international airport between Aug 30 and Sep 8: maps.apple.com moved from position 8 → 4.

### This week's movers

Biggest changes between the Aug 30 and Sep 8 pulls.

▲ 11

90th Meridian Kitchen & Bar

map rank for "restaurant"

#18 → #7

▲ 11

Hokkaido Ramen Santouka Chicago West Loop

map rank for "ramen"

#18 → #7

▼ 6

www.facebook.com

3 queries — palmer house hotel chicago · lou malnati pizza · chicago midway international airport

0 up · 3 down

▼ 5

www.torhoermanlaw.com

3 queries — accident lawyer chicago il · truck accident attorney in chicago · car injury lawyer chicago

1 up · 2 down

NEW

www.tastesofchicago.com

lou malnati pizza · new to page one

— → #2

NEW

www.ticketmaster.com

cubs tickets · new to page one

— → #2

▲ 295

Tours & Boats Architecture Tours

reviews

16,303 → 16,598

▲ 238

Four Seasons Heating, Air Conditioning, Plumbing, Sewer & Electric

reviews

30,693 → 30,931

▲ 10

Reggie's Pizza Express

map rank for "pizza"

#15 → #5

▲ 10

Harry's Sandwich Shop

map rank for "restaurant"

#16 → #6

Movement = week-over-week snapshot diff · arrows and signed numbers, always

### Most contested keywords

Who currently leads the top 6 fights worth having. Leader = top organic result; OPEN RACE = no [map pack](https://seobandwagon.com/seo-glossary#local-pack) on the page.

chicago o hare international airport

1,000,000 searches/mo

www.flychicago.com OPEN RACE

bears tickets

201,000 searches/mo

www.chicagobears.com OPEN RACE

cubs tickets

40,500 searches/mo

www.mlb.com OPEN RACE

music shows chicago

18,100 searches/mo

www.ticketmaster.com OPEN RACE

chicago movers

12,100 searches/mo

www.newcitymovers.com LOCAL

personal injury lawyer near me

8,100 searches/mo

attorneys.superlawyers.com AGGREGATOR

NO MAP PACK

**8 of the 21 keywords we track show no map pack at all.** Google is answering those with links, not a map — so the way in is a page, not a profile. [See what that takes](https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo/chicago#move).

### What page one is made of

Share of 21 tracked keywords showing each [SERP feature](https://seobandwagon.com/seo-glossary#serp-feature).

People Also Ask 100%

Map pack 62%

Source: Google organic results via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), 21 tracked keywords anchored on the Chicago coordinate · pulled September 8, 2026. Feature presence as Google returned it; a featured snippet appeared on none of these SERPs and paid results on 2%, so neither is charted.

[People Also Ask](https://seobandwagon.com/seo-glossary#people-also-ask) boxes show on **100%** of these searches — answer those questions and you're on page one twice.

ANATOMY OF A #1

Air Flows Chicago - Belmont

Top-rated of 96 tracked Hvac

Rating 5.0 ★ (cat. median 4.9)

Reviews 1,084 (median 87)

Source: [Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps) results via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), Chicago DMA, deduped by place\_id · pulled September 8, 2026. Each category search returns at most 100 results, so this is a ceiling on what we see, not a census of the metro.

None of this is magic. It's 12.5× the category's median review count. The playbook is public.

### Ranking with no website

Of the 1,232 businesses we track in Chicago's map results, **140** have no website at all — 11% of the field, showing up on reputation alone.

140

BUSINESSES RANKING WITHOUT A SITE

The most-reviewed of them has **1,403 reviews** and a 4.7 rating. If they are beating you, it is not because of their website.

Source: [Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps) results via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), Chicago DMA, deduped by place\_id · pulled September 8, 2026. Each category search returns at most 100 results, so this is a ceiling on what we see, not a census of the metro. "No website" is the absence of a site link on the Google listing.

### Who holds the map pack

20 businesses hold the 39 pack seats across the 13 tracked keywords that return a map pack. # is the best position each held; seats counts the keywords they appear on.

#1

Malman Law

4.8 ★ · 5,200 reviews

7 SEATS

#1

Abels & Annes, P.C.

5.0 ★ · 247 reviews

5 SEATS

#2

Attorneys of Chicago Personal Injury Lawyers

4.9 ★ · 139 reviews

4 SEATS

#1

House Keep Up Chicago

4.9 ★ · 278 reviews

2 SEATS

#1

THE MOVERS LLC

no rating on the listing

2 SEATS

#2

Sparkly Maid Chicago

4.9 ★ · 1,400 reviews

2 SEATS

#2

2 Guys and a Van Movers Chicago

no rating on the listing

2 SEATS

#3

King of Maids

4.7 ★ · 677 reviews

2 SEATS

A DIFFERENT POOL

**15 of the 20 businesses holding these seats never appear in the category rosters we pull for Chicago.** That gap is a property of OUR roster, not of Google: every metro pulls the same 14 categories, and where they do not overlap the tracked keywords the share runs to 100% before Google is consulted. It says these packs were not measured by our category pull — not that categories do not matter.

Source: Google local pack via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), 13 tracked keywords anchored on the Chicago metro coordinate, September 8, 2026. Rank is position within the pack as returned, not a ranking claim. Businesses are keyed on the cid Google returns; ratings and review counts are the listing's own, read once and not averaged.

### Nobody has claimed these

Of the 1,232 businesses we track in Chicago's map results, **126** are ranking on a listing no owner has claimed — 10% of the field, with nobody able to edit the hours, the category or the photos.

126

UNCLAIMED LISTINGS RANKING TODAY

The most-reviewed of them has **5,783 reviews** and a 4.4 rating and still nobody controls the profile. Claiming one is free.

Source: [Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps) results via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), Chicago DMA, deduped by place\_id · pulled September 8, 2026. Each category search returns at most 100 results, so this is a ceiling on what we see, not a census of the metro. "Unclaimed" is Google's own flag on the listing.

## The city itself

Search demand doesn't come from nowhere. What follows is the rest of what we track about Chicago — each line from a named source, and absent where we have none.

2.74M

PEOPLE

Median age 35.1. Every one of them picks businesses from a search box — Chapter 1's demand is this population talking.

$277,600

MEDIAN HOME VALUE

What the typical owner in the city proper says the home is worth — the city, not the metro.

$1,209

MEDIAN RENT / MO

Median gross rent in the city proper — rent plus the utilities the tenant pays.

Source: US Census Bureau, [American Community Survey](https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs) 5-year estimates (2021 release), place level — Chicago city proper, not the metro; fetched 2026-09-08. Population, median age, home value and rent all come from this one block; nothing on these cards is typed in.

### Chicago vs. the nation

Three household figures — the city proper against the whole country, from the same survey on both sides.

| | CHICAGO | UNITED STATES | DIFFERENCE |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Median household income | $65,781 a year | $69,021 | −5% |
| Median home value | $277,600 | $244,900 | +13% |
| Median gross rent | $1,209 a month | $1,163 | +4% |

Source: both sides US Census Bureau, [American Community Survey](https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs) 5-year estimates, 2021 release (2017–2021) — the city at place level (Chicago city proper, not the metro; fetched 2026-09-08) and the nation as one geography (fetched 2026-09-09). Difference is the city over the national figure, computed. Unemployment, taxes, power and broadband are not here: no fetched source on both sides.

### The rest of the ledger

Everything else we track about living and working here — one line each, open what you need.

Colleges 17,384 students University of Chicago

1 institutions and 17,384 enrolled students, led by University of Chicago. A permanent annual influx of new residents who choose dentists, gyms, and mechanics from a Google search.

Farmers markets 3 markets Chicago Cultural Center Green Market

3 tracked markets, including Chicago Cultural Center Green Market (Sat 8am-1pm). Weekend-morning spikes for "farmers market near me" are among the most predictable recurring search patterns there are.

Coworking 15 spaces Low density — remote-worker economy

15 coworking spaces tracked — a low-density remote-work market. A remote-work population searches like a resident but spends like a visitor: lunch, gyms, services near the clusters.

Broadband 212 Mbps avg 95.4% coverage · 61.2% fiber

Average download of 212 Mbps, 95.4% coverage, 61.2% fiber availability. Fast connections mean impatient visitors: page speed is a ranking and conversion factor here.

This week in town 21 upcoming events Chicago White Sox vs. Pittsburgh Pirates · Rate Field

21 upcoming tracked events, led by Chicago White Sox vs. Pittsburgh Pirates at Rate Field.

### The names Chicago searches for

The 145 brands, institutions and landmarks this metro looks up by name — 25,844,700 searches a month. No local business can win these. They are what the city *is*.

RANKED BY MONTHLY SEARCH VOLUME

| | | | | |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | Chicago Cubs | Sports team | | 5.15M |
| 2 | Chicago Bears | Sports team | | 3.32M |
| 3 | MLB | League | | 1.97M |
| 4 | Chicago White Sox | Sports team | | 1.93M |
| 5 | Chicago Blackhawks | Sports team | | 740K |
| 6 | Flight Club | Restaurant | | 738K |
| 7 | Lou Malnati's Pizzeria | Restaurant | | 698K |
| 8 | Chicago Bulls | Sports team | | 668K |
| 9 | NBA | League | | 585K |
| 10 | Hilton | Hotel | | 491K |
| 11 | Navy Pier | Destination | | 407K |
| 12 | Oakbrook Center | Store | | 402K |

#### Most searched

-   1 Chicago Cubs 5.15M
-   2 Chicago Bears 3.32M
-   3 MLB 1.97M
-   4 Chicago White Sox 1.93M
-   5 Chicago Blackhawks 740K

#### Most valuable

-   1 Chicago Cubs $10.79M
-   2 Chicago Bears $6.32M
-   3 MLB $2.60M
-   4 Chicago White Sox $2.36M
-   5 Chicago Blackhawks $1.72M

#### Most expensive per click

-   1 National Museum of Mexican Art $5.28
-   2 Architecture River Cruise $4.79
-   3 NFL $3.74
-   4 United Airlines $3.71
-   5 Chicago's First Lady $3.46

METHODOLOGY

Search volume, cost-per-click and SERP data from DataForSEO, collected September 8, 2026. Business listings, ratings and map positions from a live read of Google Maps in the same pull. Rank movement is a diff against the previous pull of our snapshot archive. Ad-equivalent value is searches × CPC — it prices the traffic, not your revenue. Call rates, close rates, and customer values in the unit-economics section are industry benchmarks, not measurements. Every other module on this page renders only where the underlying figure exists; where it does not, the module is absent rather than estimated.

Collected and published by [SEO Bandwagon](https://seobandwagon.com/about), tracking local search since 2010. The Chicago edition comes from the same weekly sweep as [Google Business Profile Benchmarks](https://seobandwagon.com/research/gbp-benchmarks), whose method and verification are published in full. If a number here is wrong, [tell us](https://seobandwagon.com/contact).

## Your move

13.42M

SEARCHES IN PLAY / MO

$434

PRICIEST CLICK

18%

PAGE ONE DIRECTORY SHARE

8 of 21

TRACKED SERPS WITH NO MAP PACK

4 numbers, one conclusion: the demand is real, the price of ignoring it compounds, and the leaderboard is not settled. The only question the ledger can't answer is whether you're on it.

STEP 1 · FREE

### See where you stand

Run the free scan against your site — rankings, backlinks and page speed, free with a Google sign-in.

[Scan your site free](https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo/chicago#scan)

STEP 2 · IF YOU'RE ON THE MAP

### Claim your seat

8 of the 21 contested keywords show no map pack at all — Google answers those with links, not a map.

[Claim your business](https://business.google.com/)

STEP 3 · EVERY PULL

### Read the next edition

The ledger reprints every week — movers, price changes, and open seats, in your inbox before your competitors read it.

[New to this? Start with the blog — plain-English guides, no jargon →](https://seobandwagon.com/blog)

## Linked ledgers

The three nearest tracked metros on the map, and the one our data says behaves most like this one.

[NEAREST · 81 MI Milwaukee, WI 1,888,610 searches/mo · 1,207 listings](https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo/milwaukee) [NEAREST · 165 MI Indianapolis, IN 2,594,010 searches/mo · 1,311 listings](https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo/indianapolis) [NEAREST · 237 MI Detroit, MI 3,729,520 searches/mo · 1,367 listings](https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo/detroit) [CLOSEST LOOKALIKE New York, NY 32,196,000 searches/mo · 1,294 listings](https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo/new-york)

Linked within the 54 metros we track, and nowhere else. Distance is straight-line between each metro's single anchor point — a downtown coordinate, not a centroid. Lookalike is the closest match on four measured features — search volume, ad prices, listing density and review depth — excluding the neighbours above and everything inside 500 km, so it surfaces a market you would not otherwise think to compare. Recomputed on every build, so it moves as the markets do. SRC: the 54-metro collection, pulled across September 8, 2026 and the day either side · [all metros →](https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo#cities)

GO DEEPER · THE LEDGER BY VERTICAL

[FOOD & DINING 8.5M/mo](https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo/chicago/food-dining) [ENTERTAINMENT 1.8M/mo](https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo/chicago/entertainment) [HOME SERVICES 201K/mo](https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo/chicago/home-services)

---

Canonical page: https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo/chicago
Every metro: https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo#cities
Data reuse license: https://seobandwagon.com/data-license
Site overview for agents: https://seobandwagon.com/llms.txt · API docs: https://seobandwagon.com/docs/api