Chicago closed half of its traffic-signal-out requests within 3 hours of filing and half of its garbage-cart repair requests within 15.9 days. This list ranks the eight high-volume 311 request types our response-time analysis timed, 883,837 requests filed from January 2024 through mid-June 2026, by the median time from filing to the city’s recorded closure. A closed request is the city’s record that it closed the request; the ranking covers these eight types, not all of 311.
City of Chicago 311 Service Requests (v6vf-nfxy) · pulled October 1, 2026 · medians computed by us1. Traffic signal out: median 3 hours
Half of the 57,910 requests were closed within 3 hours, and nine in ten within 21.7 days.
2. Graffiti removal: median 17 hours
Half of the 229,291 requests were closed within 17 hours, and nine in ten within 2.8 days. Graffiti drew the most requests of the eight.
3. Street light out: median 2.5 days
Half of the 78,802 requests were closed within 2.5 days, and nine in ten within 14.5 days.
4. Rodent baiting: median 3.1 days
Half of the 104,762 requests were closed within 3.1 days, and nine in ten within 10.2 days.
5. Pothole in street: median 5.8 days
Half of the 90,330 requests were closed within 5.8 days, and nine in ten within 96.9 days. That is the longest slow tail of the eight.
6. Tree debris clean-up: median 6.1 days
Half of the 75,825 requests were closed within 6.1 days, and nine in ten within 40.9 days.
7. Abandoned vehicle: median 11.6 days
Half of the 127,876 requests were closed within 11.6 days, and nine in ten within 47.5 days.
8. Garbage cart repair: median 15.9 days
Half of the 119,041 requests were closed within 15.9 days, and nine in ten within 42.0 days. That is the slowest median of the eight.
Questions these numbers answer
How long does Chicago take to close a pothole request? The median pothole request filed from January 2024 through mid-June 2026 closed in 5.8 days, across 90,330 requests, and the slowest tenth took 96.9 days or more.
What does 311 close fastest? Among these eight, traffic-signal-out requests: half closed within 3 hours. Graffiti removal is next, with half of 229,291 requests closed within 17 hours.
What takes the longest? Garbage-cart repair, at a median of 15.9 days across 119,041 requests, with abandoned vehicles next at 11.6 days.
- Source The city’s 311 Service Requests file (v6vf-nfxy), pulled October 1, 2026: every request of the eight types that the file does not mark as a duplicate, created January 1, 2024 through June 15, 2026. Time is measured from creation to the city’s recorded closure. The requests still open on October 1, under 2 percent of each kind, had each already waited at least 108 days, longer than every median and 90th percentile on this list, so counting them at their age so far leaves those figures where they will be when the requests close. The selection rules, the area-by-area figures and the method are in the full analysis, A Chicago 311 Garbage-Cart Request Took a Median 15.9 Days to Close, a Pothole 5.8 and a Traffic-Signal-Out Report 3 Hours: 883,837 Requests Timed by Community Area.
Computed by KCM Desk from records pulled October 1, 2026. Human-guided and edited — about this desk. If you spot an error, corrections come first.