Plus you get nickled and dimed and ripped off by the city every which way from Sunday (City Stickers, parking fines and fees, licensing, inspections, yadda, yadda, yadda).
Plus the business income and property taxes in Illinois are crushing-- I've seen adds for commercial space saying, "just pay the taxes".
No one in their right mind would open a business in Illinois, let alone Chicago.
From 160 miles away, I’ve never understood Chicago.
High COL, lousy weather, and crowded.