Virtual data rooms for Chicago deals, audits and legal matters

What sets Chicago's economy apart

The industry that stands out most in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metro, measured against the national mix, is trucking. Its 12,968 establishments are 2.6 times the share you would expect from the country as a whole. Next come transportation support services (2,218 establishments, 1.5 times) and plastics and rubber products (503 establishments, 1.5 times). No other metro on these pages has a higher concentration of trucking, out of 61 with published figures.

Trucking acquisitions and equipment financings turn on fleet lists, safety records and customer contracts.

Port, freight-forwarding and logistics-services deals review customs records, terminal leases and carrier contracts. In transportation support services, Chicago places 6th of 61 metros here; New Orleans, LA leads.

How Chicago compares

The Census Bureau estimated the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metro's population at 9,408,576 in July 2024, down 45,787 or 0.5 percent on the April 2020 base of 9,454,363.

Measured against the 2023 estimate of 9,337,814, the same year as the business count, Chicago has 62.8 offices of lawyers per 100,000 residents, 16th of the 59 metro areas on these pages against a median of 52.6; the nearest rates are Atlanta, GA at 63.9 and Austin, TX at 61.1.

The metro with the closest number of law offices is Atlanta, GA, with 4,050; the metro closest in population, Dallas, TX at 8,344,032 residents, has 3,969 law offices and 3,263 accounting, tax, bookkeeping and payroll establishments.

Counted by accounting, tax, bookkeeping and payroll firms instead, Chicago's nearest match is Dallas, TX, with 3,263.

• Residents, July 2024: 9,408,576
• Residents, April 2020 base: 9,454,363
• Change since 2020: -45,787 (-0.5 percent), 52nd of 59
• Law offices per 100,000 residents: 62.8, 16th of 59
• Accounting, tax, bookkeeping and payroll per 100,000 residents: 44.7, 24th of 59
• Securities and investment per 100,000 residents: 44.5, 17th of 59
• Managing offices per 100,000 residents: 14.8, 31st of 59
• Real estate agents and brokers per 100,000 residents: 45.5, 33rd of 59
• Employees in offices of lawyers: about 46,000
• Employees in accounting, tax, bookkeeping and payroll: about 44,000

The courts and regulators behind Chicago paperwork

When a Chicago dispute reaches federal court, it goes to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, whose Chicago courthouse is the Everett McKinley Dirksen United States Courthouse.

CPAs practicing in Illinois are licensed by the Illinois Department of Financial And Professional Regulation Public Accountancy Section.

If personal information in a Chicago deal, audit or case file is exposed, Illinois's data breach notification law sets who has to be told and when.