Office vacancy rates in Chicago have reached 28.2 percent, surpassing pre-pandemic levels and marking the 14th consecutive quarter of increasing vacancies, according to The Center Square. In the past year alone, businesses have vacated 370,000 square feet of office space.
Mark Glennon, executive editor at Wirepoints, criticized city leadership for its approach to business. “You never see any effort to make life easier for employers here. The state of Illinois is like one big oppressive intermeddling HR department with countless rules and regulations that strangle people,” Glennon told Center Square.
Glennon also pointed out that declining business activity could negatively impact the city’s finances and homeowners. “The valuations of those big buildings go down because they’re not getting as much rent and those lower valuations mean lower property taxes that they pay that has to get passed off someplace, and that goes largely to homeowners,” he noted.
He warned that this trend could lead to further decline for Chicago unless policies change. “All those things, of course, snowball,” Glennon explained. “They drive more people away, other things will continue to deteriorate, and businesses will get more fed up, more people will leave. It’s more of the same and a spiral downward.”
J.D. Busch from Chicago Contrarian reported on several major companies relocating their headquarters out of Chicago or Illinois in recent years. Companies mentioned include Beam Suntory, Boeing, Caterpillar, Citadel, Guggenheim Partners, PEAK6 Investments, Schumacher Electric Corp., SC Johnson, TTX Company, Tyson Foods, United Airlines, Walgreens Boots Alliance among others.
Between 2015 and 2024 Chicago lost approximately 17 percent of its businesses; numbers dropped from about 54,135 in 2015 to around 44,840 by 2024 according to the Illinois Policy Institute. The Magnificent Mile experienced a significant reduction as well—from roughly 1,600 registered businesses down to only 784 in 2024.
Chicago’s business environment is affected by high costs: it faces the second-highest state corporate income tax rates nationally as well as the highest commercial property taxes in the country.
Democratic Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza has also expressed concern about how current policies may be driving companies away from Chicago.
Mayor Brandon Johnson has proposed new measures including a head tax—charging businesses $21 per employee—as well as taxes on social media users based in Chicago and cloud computing services. So far these proposals have not been approved by City Council but remain part of ongoing discussions about city revenue plans.
Critics argue that such policies may further discourage business growth at a time when economic recovery is needed.
