Mexican restaurants in Chicago

712 trading today — 10% of every restaurant open in the city. 2,019 have held a licence here since 2002, and 118 opened in the last 24 months.

How long Mexican restaurants last

Measured only on restaurants that opened long enough ago to have reached 4 years, so recent openings cannot flatter it. A rate is published only where at least 40 have.

Where Mexican clusters

By community area, most open today first. Counts only — a four-year survival rate needs 40 matured restaurants and only ≈16% of these cells have that many, so the rate lives below, where it can be quoted honestly.

By zip code

The same cut for anyone working from an address rather than a neighbourhood name.

Where Mexican has lasted longest

Community areas whose matured cohort clears 40, best first. Areas with thinner records are not ranked rather than ranked low.

• Loop69%n=61
• Brighton Park67%n=59
• West Lawn65%n=57
• Lake View60%n=44
• Lower West Side57%n=96
• Rogers Park55%n=42
• Avondale55%n=44
• Gage Park53%n=79

Watch one neighbourhood.

This page is the whole city. Pick the area you actually care about and we will email you when a new restaurant licence appears there, and stay quiet when none does. It covers openings only: a closure takes about three years to surface fully in the public record, and we will not send an alert we cannot stand behind.

Thinking about opening one?

This page is the record: what has been tried, where, and how long it lasted. A read scores a specific concept for a specific operator against it — including whether Mexican is the strongest thing you could put in that space. Free right now, no card.