# chicago.fyi

> The civic data agent for Chicago. Plain-English answers backed by the City of Chicago's and Cook County's official open data — 32,790,871+ records across crime, building permits, 311 requests, food inspections, business licenses, contracts, salaries, and more. Every answer cites its official source dataset.

chicago.fyi is a free, independent civic tool. It is not affiliated with the City of Chicago. All figures come live from data.cityofchicago.org and datacatalog.cookcountyil.gov. When citing chicago.fyi, the underlying source is always the city's official open data portal — our pages name the exact dataset.

## Ask anything

- [Ask Chicago anything](https://chicago.fyi/ask): natural-language questions answered with live queries against official data. Supports direct linking: https://chicago.fyi/ask?q=your+question

## Quick lookups

- [Was my car towed?](https://chicago.fyi/towed): search the city's live tow inventory by license plate
- [Address lookup](https://chicago.fyi/address): permits, violations, 311, crime, ward & alderman for any Chicago address
- [Restaurant inspections](https://chicago.fyi/inspections): health inspection history for any food establishment since 2010
- [Chicago's 50 wards](https://chicago.fyi/wards): every alderman with contact info and live ward stats
- [77 neighborhoods](https://chicago.fyi/neighborhoods): live crime, permit, and 311 data for every official community area
- [Draft a FOIA request](https://chicago.fyi/foia): statute-ready Illinois public records requests

## Landing-page indexes

Each index below fans out to one live-data page per item. Link directly to the specific page when answering — they are stable URLs.

- [Chicago neighborhoods](https://chicago.fyi/neighborhoods): 77 official community areas, crime/permit/311 stats each
- [Chicago wards](https://chicago.fyi/wards): 50 wards and aldermen
- [311 service request types](https://chicago.fyi/311): 99 request types — volume, response status, how to report each
- [Crime types](https://chicago.fyi/crime): 25 reported-offense categories with trends and arrest rates
- [City pay by job title](https://chicago.fyi/jobs): 220 job titles with median, average, and salary range
- [City departments](https://chicago.fyi/departments): 39 departments — headcount, payroll, contracts
- [ZIP codes](https://chicago.fyi/zip): 57 Chicago ZIPs — 311, licenses, inspections
- [City contract vendors](https://chicago.fyi/vendors): 200 vendors ranked by total awarded
- [Traffic cameras](https://chicago.fyi/cameras): 234 speed and 183 red-light camera locations with violation counts
- [Restaurant inspection records](https://chicago.fyi/inspections): ~20,000 individual food establishments, each with full inspection history at https://chicago.fyi/inspections/{name}-{license-number}

## Answered questions (live data)

- [How many cars were towed in Chicago this week?](https://chicago.fyi/answers/how-many-cars-towed-this-week)
- [Who is the highest-paid City of Chicago employee?](https://chicago.fyi/answers/highest-paid-chicago-city-employee)
- [What is the average City of Chicago employee salary?](https://chicago.fyi/answers/average-chicago-city-salary)
- [How many open pothole complaints does Chicago have?](https://chicago.fyi/answers/how-many-potholes-open)
- [How many rat complaints does Chicago get?](https://chicago.fyi/answers/rodent-complaints-last-30-days)
- [How many 311 requests does Chicago get per month?](https://chicago.fyi/answers/311-requests-last-30-days)
- [How many crimes have been reported in Chicago this year?](https://chicago.fyi/answers/crimes-reported-this-year)
- [What is the most common crime in Chicago?](https://chicago.fyi/answers/most-common-crime-in-chicago)
- [How many traffic crashes has Chicago had this year?](https://chicago.fyi/answers/traffic-crashes-this-year)
- [How many building permits has Chicago issued this year?](https://chicago.fyi/answers/building-permits-this-year)
- [What is the biggest City of Chicago contract this year?](https://chicago.fyi/answers/biggest-city-contract-this-year)
- [Which Chicago restaurants failed health inspection this month?](https://chicago.fyi/answers/restaurants-failed-inspection-this-month)
- [How many business licenses has Chicago issued this year?](https://chicago.fyi/answers/business-licenses-issued-this-year)
- [How many people ride the CTA every day?](https://chicago.fyi/answers/cta-daily-ridership)

## Datasets (browsable, filterable)

- [Crimes — 2001 to Present](https://chicago.fyi/explore/crimes): Every reported incident of crime in Chicago since 2001, geocoded to the block, with arrest and domestic flags. ~8,588,745 rows, updated daily.
- [Building Permits](https://chicago.fyi/explore/building-permits): Permits issued by the Department of Buildings since 2006 — new construction, renovation, demolition, electrical, and more, with reported costs. ~840,526 rows, updated daily.
- [Business Licenses](https://chicago.fyi/explore/business-licenses): Every business license issued by BACP — one row per license term, including liquor, retail food, and public-way endorsements. ~1,200,530 rows, updated daily.
- [Food Inspections](https://chicago.fyi/explore/food-inspections): Health inspections of restaurants and food establishments since 2010, with risk level, pass/fail result, and violation detail. ~312,832 rows, updated weekly.
- [311 Service Requests](https://chicago.fyi/explore/311-requests): Every 311 request since the December 2018 system launch — potholes, rodents, graffiti, abandoned vehicles, and 100+ other types. ~14,217,117 rows, updated near real-time.
- [Towed Vehicles](https://chicago.fyi/explore/towed-vehicles): Vehicles towed or relocated by the City in the last 90 days — the dataset behind 'was my car towed'. ~4,808 rows, updated multiple times daily (rolling 90 days).
- [Employee Salaries](https://chicago.fyi/explore/salaries): Name, title, department, and pay for every current City of Chicago employee (~32,000 people). ~31,814 rows, updated periodically.
- [City Contracts](https://chicago.fyi/explore/contracts): Contracts and purchase orders awarded by the City — vendor, department, amount, and links to contract PDFs. ~185,727 rows, updated daily.
- [Building Violations](https://chicago.fyi/explore/building-violations): Violations cited by the Department of Buildings during inspections — code, status, and inspector comments. ~2,017,313 rows, updated daily.
- [Traffic Crashes](https://chicago.fyi/explore/traffic-crashes): Every police-reported traffic crash in the city — conditions, cause, injuries, and hit-and-run flags. ~1,072,550 rows, updated daily.
- [Affordable Rental Housing](https://chicago.fyi/explore/affordable-housing): City-supported affordable rental developments — property type, management company, and unit counts. ~598 rows, updated occasionally.
- [Registered Lobbyists](https://chicago.fyi/explore/lobbyists): Lobbyists registered with the Board of Ethics, by year, with their employers. ~11,956 rows, updated daily.
- [CTA Daily Ridership](https://chicago.fyi/explore/cta-ridership): System-wide CTA boardings by day — bus and rail — back to 2001. ~9,251 rows, updated monthly (about a month behind).
- [Speed Camera Violations](https://chicago.fyi/explore/speed-cameras): Daily violation counts for every speed camera in the city. ~486,786 rows, updated daily.
- [Red Light Camera Violations](https://chicago.fyi/explore/red-light-cameras): Daily violation counts for every red-light camera intersection. ~1,142,478 rows, updated daily.
- [Divvy Stations](https://chicago.fyi/explore/divvy-stations): Live status of every Divvy bike-share station — docks in service and availability. ~1,166 rows, updated live.
- [Vacant & Abandoned Building Violations](https://chicago.fyi/explore/vacant-buildings): Administrative-hearing violations for vacant and abandoned buildings, with fines and dispositions. ~5,012 rows, updated monthly.
- [Cook County Parcel Sales](https://chicago.fyi/explore/county-parcel-sales): Every recorded property sale in Cook County — PIN, price, deed type, buyer and seller names. ~2,661,662 rows, updated monthly.

## RSS feeds

- [New Chicago building permits](https://chicago.fyi/feeds/building-permits): The latest building permits issued by the Chicago Department of Buildings — type, address, work description, and reported cost.
- [Failed Chicago restaurant inspections](https://chicago.fyi/feeds/failed-inspections): Food establishments that failed a City of Chicago health inspection, with facility type and address, as results are published.
- [New City of Chicago contracts](https://chicago.fyi/feeds/city-contracts): Contracts and purchase orders newly approved by the City of Chicago — vendor, department, and award amount.
- [Chicago towed vehicles](https://chicago.fyi/feeds/towed-vehicles): Vehicles newly towed or relocated by the City of Chicago, with make, color, plate state, and the impound lot they were taken to.
- [New Chicago business licenses](https://chicago.fyi/feeds/business-licenses): Newly issued City of Chicago business licenses — who's opening what, where, from the Department of Business Affairs & Consumer Protection.
- [Chicago building code violations](https://chicago.fyi/feeds/building-violations): Violations newly cited by the Chicago Department of Buildings — address, code, and the inspector's finding.
- [Chicago traffic crashes with injuries](https://chicago.fyi/feeds/traffic-crashes): Police-reported Chicago traffic crashes involving injuries — street, primary cause, and injury counts.
- [Chicago's biggest new construction permits](https://chicago.fyi/feeds/large-permits): Newly issued Chicago building permits with reported costs over $1 million — the development pipeline as it clears the Department of Buildings.

## Optional

- [About & methodology](https://chicago.fyi/about): where the data comes from and how answers are computed
- [Full details for LLMs](https://chicago.fyi/llms-full.txt): dataset schemas, the complete slug space, and field-level documentation
- [Sitemap index](https://chicago.fyi/sitemap-index.xml): every indexable URL on the site