Chicago Business License Search - New Business Leads

Search the City of Chicago's active business licenses (about 52k current licenses) from the official data.cityofchicago.org publication, refreshed daily. Pull newly issued licenses for lead generation or look up any business by name, license or account number.

Each result includes:

• legal name and DBA
• license number, license ID, account and site number
• license type (Retail Food, Limited Business, Tavern, Public Place of Amusement...) and business activity
• application type (ISSUE = new business, RENEW, location change, expansion)
• date issued, license start and expiration dates
• address, ZIP, ward, community area, neighborhood, latitude and longitude

Results are newest issue date first. No API key, no CAPTCHA. Pricing: $0.002 per license + $0.0001 start.

{ "applicationTypes": ["ISSUE"], "issuedAfter": "2026-10-01", "licenseDescriptions": ["Retail Food"], "maxResults": 200 }

{ "names": ["coffee"], "zipCodes": ["60622"] }

Use cases

New-business lead generation for POS, payments, insurance, food suppliers, cleaning, signage and marketing; competitive mapping by neighborhood; KYB checks on a Chicago business.

Limits

Active licenses only; no phone or email is published. Confirm with the City of Chicago license lookup. Names are matched as substrings.

How to use

1. Open Chicago Business License Search - New Business Leads in Apify Console and click Start (or Try for free).
2. Fill in the input form - start with Application Types, License Types, Max Results. Every field is optional unless marked required, and the form is prefilled with a working example.
3. Set Maximum results to cap your cost, then run the Actor.
4. Download the results as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or HTML, or pull them with the Apify API.

Input

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
query	string	no		Quick single legal name or DBA search (contains match). Leave blank for the newest licenses.
names	array	no		Legal names or DBAs, contains match, case-insensitive.
issuedAfter	string	no		Optional YYYY-MM-DD. Use a recent date for newly licensed businesses.
applicationTypes	array	no		'ISSUE' = new license, 'RENEW' = renewal, 'C_LOC' = location change, 'C_EXPA' = expansion.
licenseDescriptions	array	no		Contains match, e.g. 'Retail Food Establishment', 'Limited Business License', 'Tavern', 'Consumption on Premises', 'Public Place of Amuse...
businessActivities	array	no		Contains match on business activity, e.g. 'restaurant', 'salon', 'contractor', 'retail sales'.
zipCodes	array	no		ZIP code or prefix, e.g. '60614'.
wards	array	no		Chicago ward numbers, e.g. '42'.
neighborhoods	array	no		e.g. 'LINCOLN PARK', 'LOOP', 'WEST TOWN'.
licenseNumbers	array	no		Exact license numbers.
accountNumbers	array	no		Exact BACP account numbers (all licenses of one business).
maxResults	integer	no	10	Maximum total paid dataset items, split across search terms. The default returns 10 licenses (about $0.0201 including the start event).

Example input

{
  "applicationTypes": [
    "ISSUE"
  ],
  "licenseDescriptions": [
    "Retail Food"
  ],
  "maxResults": 5
}

Output example

One record from a real run (long values shortened, contact details partly masked):

{
  "setupStatus": "found",
  "legalName": "VEGAN STREET FOOD CHICAGO LLC",
  "doingBusinessAs": "PENELOPE'S VEGAN TAQUERIA",
  "licenseNumber": "3104248",
  "licenseId": "3104248",
  "accountNumber": "483624",
  "siteNumber": "5",
  "licenseDescription": "Retail Food Establishment",
  "licenseCode": "1006",
  "businessActivity": "Preparation of Food and Dining on Premises With Seating",
  "applicationType": "ISSUE",
  "licenseStatus": "AAI",
  "dateIssued": "2026-10-16",
  "licenseStartDate": "2026-10-16",
  "expirationDate": "2028-03-15",
  "applicationCreatedDate": "2026-09-24",
  "address": "311 W CHICAGO AVE 1ST",
  "city": "CHICAGO",
  "state": "IL",
  "zipCode": "60654",
  "ward": "42",
  "communityArea": "NEAR NORTH SIDE",
  "neighborhood": "RIVER NORTH",
  "latitude": 41.8964568579,
  "longitude": -87.6361811728
}

Pricing

Pay per event: $0.002 per business license result plus $0.0001 per run start. No subscription to this Actor is needed. Apify Store discounts apply, so the price per result is lower on Silver, Gold and higher Apify plans. Use Maximum results to cap the cost of each run.

FAQ

How much does Chicago Business License Search - New Business Leads cost?

$0.002 per business license result plus $0.0001 per run. For example, 1,000 results cost about $2.00. Higher Apify plans get a Store discount.

Do I need an API key or login?

No. Just configure the input and run it.

Can I run it on a schedule or from code?

Yes. Use Apify Schedules for recurring runs, or call it from the Apify API, the JavaScript or Python client, Make, Zapier, n8n, or any MCP-compatible AI agent.

Why did my run return no results?

Your filters are probably too narrow. Remove a filter or broaden the search, then run again. You only pay the result price for records that are actually saved.

Is the data accurate and up to date?

Each run fetches live data from the source described above, so results are as current as that source. Verify critical records with the original source before acting on them.

Use with the API

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/pink_comic~chicago-business-license-search/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"applicationTypes": ["ISSUE"], "licenseDescriptions": ["Retail Food"], "maxResults": 5}'

Related

• Illinois Professional License Search
• Restaurant Health Inspections
• Business Entity Search (multi-state)