CPS counted 304,687 students in fall 2026, 11,537 fewer than a year earlier, and 18,838 kindergartners, the fewest in 22 years of files. We split the drop by grade and mapped all 22 files by community area: 63 of 77 areas are below fall 2012, while the Loop grew 81 percent.
On July 1, 2003, Chicago’s license file shows 1,386 premises holding an active tavern license; this July it shows 758 — a 45 percent slide spread across two decades, with premises licensed for package goods outnumbering licensed taverns every July since 2013. Counted and mapped from the city’s own license file.
Chicago permitted 1,169 sidewalk cafés for 2025 against 1,192 in 2019 — but the Loop sits at 75 percent of its old count while Lincoln Park and Lincoln Square run well above theirs, and barely half of 2019’s cafés return under the same owner account. Counted and mapped from the city’s own permit file.
Before demolition or asbestos work, Chicago requires a notice of intent — 1,253 carry proposed 2026 starts, heaviest on the Near North Side, in Lake View, and in the Loop. The demolition subset runs a different belt, and the complaint file points somewhere else again. All mapped from CDPH’s own files.
Among 132 cleanly comparable L stations, exactly two carried more weekday riders in January–May 2026 than in 2019: Cermak-Chinatown and Morgan. The ten highest recoveries, the six lowest, and the screen behind the ranking.
Chicago’s own inventory listed 12,110 parcels as city-owned on August 3, 2026 — and Englewood holds more than any other community area, with West Englewood second. The top ten, with every count and caveat from the city’s own file.
The median complaint inspection logs three violations; 306 inspection days this year — at 295 distinct Chicago addresses — logged ten or more in a single day. The ledger trail behind the 50 Yard Line’s reported emergency closure, computed from the city’s own violations file.
Chicago’s e-scooter feed logged 9,452,755 trips in 2025, up 41 percent — and two of its four vendors are sidewalk delivery-robot companies by their own announcements. The season shape, the top areas, and the robot rows, from the city’s own data.
Chicago’s overtime bill fell from $523 million in 2023 to $467.7 million in 2025, and the $100,000-overtime club nearly halved. Who tops the list by title and department, and why the bill is far broader than a club — computed from the city’s own payroll file, no names needed.
Branch visits are 18 percent below 2019 and branch checkouts 29 percent below, while downloadable checkouts more than doubled. The 15-year lines, the nine branches that grew, and a lookup for all 67 compared branches.
