# chicago-business-license-records

> https://chicago-business-license-records.pages.dev

## What this site answers

One query, one record. Key: **the City account number, a dash, the site number (e.g. 455805-1)**.
Format: ^[0-9]+-[0-9A-Z]+$
Entities: 264979

## Source

- Origin: City of Chicago, Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection — Business Licenses (Chicago Data Portal)
- URL: https://data.cityofchicago.org/d/r5kz-chrr
- Last collected: 2026-10-02
- Re-use: City of Chicago Data Terms of Use

## Access points

Every HTML page has a Markdown twin at the same path with the `.md` extension. Example: `/how-to-read/` -> `/how-to-read.md`. Links inside the Markdown files already point to the twins.

Search index, served as JSON with open CORS:

- `https://chicago-business-license-records.pages.dev/d/n/cles.json` — the name-index keys
- `https://chicago-business-license-records.pages.dev/d/n/<key>.json` — names starting with that key -> [identifier, name, city, state, type]
- `https://chicago-business-license-records.pages.dev/d/r/<fragment>.json` — records; fragment = hash of the identifier: h = 0, then for each character h = (h*31 + character code) modulo 4096; in hexadecimal on 3 digits
- `/sitemap.xml` — every page

These paths are **version 1** and will not change without notice. Bulk access, an availability guarantee or a change feed goes through `/pro/`.

Indexable pages: 11

## What this site is NOT

- This is not the official register and does not replace consulting it.
- Holding a licence is the minimum legal requirement, not a quality mark.
- One record per account and site; the City file has one row per application.
- City of Chicago data, modified for use; used at one's own risk.
- Not found is not 'unlicensed'.
- This site ranks no one.

## Privacy

Owners' names are never used; no list of revoked licenses is made.