City government is a machine you can measure: requests go in, crews go out, inspectors write violations, labs test the water — and much of it leaves a public record. Each analysis below reads one of those records in full — how long things take, what gets closed, and what sits — and this page is the front door to all of them.
Every figure computed from the analyses’ source files · updated July 29, 2026How fast does the city close what you report?
Every closed 311 request since 2024, timed from creation to closure by type and by community area — graffiti requests closed in under a day at the median, abandoned-vehicle requests in about twelve. A closed request is the record’s word, not a verified repair. Chicago on the Clock: We Timed 793,774 Service Requests, Neighborhood by Neighborhood
The rodent-complaint ledger, month by month — 44,181 complaints logged in 2025, and a seasonal rhythm the headlines miss. It Is Peak Rat Season in Chicago. The City’s Own Rat Ledger Tells a Better Story Than the Trophy.
Are buildings being inspected — and fixed?
Violations written fell from 106,645 in 2018 to 49,377 in 2025 while the budgeted inspector corps barely moved. Chicago Still Budgets 200 Building Inspectors. It Writes Half as Many Violations as in 2018.
The city’s own list of worst-offender buildings: 268 cases across ten snapshots, 44 on the newest one, and buildings that have sat on it for years. The Docket: Chicago’s Building Scofflaw List, and How Long a Building Can Stay Broken
What do the beach water tests show?
9,524 lab tests of beach water since 2021: about 5 percent hit the advisory threshold, and the gap between the best and worst beaches is seven-fold. The Yellow Flag Flies 7 Times as Often at One Chicago Beach as at Another
When are the streets most dangerous?
Every police-reported crash since 2019, by hour: the most crashes come in the afternoon, but the deadliest odds come in the dark. Chicago’s Crashes Peak at 3 p.m. The Odds of Dying in One Peak at 3 a.m.
How this hub works
Every figure on this page is computed from the same source files the analyses use, committed alongside them — the city’s public 311, building-violation, scofflaw, beach-lab and crash files — and each analysis documents its own methods, windows and caveats. This page is rebuilt from those same files when analyses are updated; the date above is its last rebuild. If you spot an error, corrections come first.