This page is the plan for the Chicago apartment building dataset behind this site. Our team is building the most complete and accurate record we can of every building in the directory, and we are asking the buildings themselves to confirm their own facts, so each listing gets as close to 100% complete as possible. Below is what the Chicago apartment building dataset records, how it is built, what a blank field means, what we never publish, and what all of that means for you while you search.
Key facts about the Chicago apartment building dataset
The short version of the Chicago apartment building dataset, for anyone who wants the answer without reading the whole page.
- Coverage. 290 Chicago apartment buildings with 79,170 apartments between them.
- What each record holds. Unit mix, building size, year built, parking, pet policy, in-unit laundry, building amenities, nearest CTA station and walking distance, and photos.
- A blank field means the fact is unconfirmed. It does not mean the building lacks that feature.
- Not published. Rent prices, current availability, resident reviews, star ratings and best-of rankings.
- Photos come from the building or from our team. Nothing is scraped and nothing is generated.
- Changes are dated and listed on the data updates page.
- Browsing is free and no account is needed.
What we are building
A factual record of every building in the directory, currently 290 Chicago apartment buildings with 79,170 apartments. For each one, the goal is the facts a renter screens on before touring:
- Unit mix, building size and year built
- Parking and pet policy
- In-unit laundry and building amenities
- Nearest CTA station and walking distance
- Real photos of the building, its interiors and its amenities
What the Chicago apartment building dataset records
Each building is one factual record. The fields are the ones a renter uses to rule a building in or out before spending an evening touring it.
Size and age. Unit mix, building size and year built tell you what kind of building you are looking at, from a converted walk-up to a new lease-up, and set expectations for scale before you visit.
Screening rules. Parking and pet policy are the two facts most likely to end a search before it starts. A car or a dog turns a long list of buildings into a short one, so both are recorded as their own fields rather than buried in a paragraph.
Daily living. In-unit laundry and building amenities are what you live with after the move. The nearest CTA station and the walk to it put the building in commuting context.
Photos. Every photo is supplied by the building with permission or taken by our own team. Nothing is scraped from another site and nothing is generated by a computer, so what you see is the building as it actually is.
How the Chicago apartment building dataset is built
- Research first. Every listing starts from public sources and the building’s own published information.
- Then the buildings. We are asking each building’s team to confirm its facts, fill the gaps and send approved photos. Nobody knows a building better than the people who run it.
- Then we keep it current. When better information is confirmed, the listing is updated, and dated changes are recorded on our data updates page.
Those three steps repeat. A listing is never finished: it is the best record we have today, and it gets better every time a building confirms a fact or fills a gap.
Our standard for the Chicago apartment building dataset
- Nothing made up. If we can’t back a fact, we don’t publish it.
- A blank field means unknown. It does not mean the building lacks that feature. Those blanks are exactly what we are working with the buildings to fill.
- No reviews, ratings or rankings. Just the facts, so you can compare buildings on your own terms.
What a blank field means
A blank field in the Chicago apartment building dataset means we have not confirmed that fact for that building. It does not mean the building lacks the feature, and it does not mean the answer is no.
Parking is the clearest example. A building with no parking recorded may well have a garage we have not yet been able to confirm from a source we trust. Treat a blank as a question for the leasing office rather than an answer, and if it matters to your search, ask before you rule the building out.
Filling those blanks is the main reason we are asking building teams to work with us. Nobody can confirm a pet policy or a parking arrangement faster than the people who run the building.
What the Chicago apartment building dataset does not include
Three things are deliberately absent: rent prices, current availability, and resident reviews or ratings.
Rents and current availability are not on this site. Both change faster than they can be kept accurate, and a wrong price is worse than none. For those, check with the building directly.
Resident reviews and star ratings are not here either. A review is one person’s experience: one unit, one leasing agent, one maintenance request, at one moment in time. Two residents of the same building can live there very differently, and a building can change management, staff or policies after a review is written. Reviews can still be worth reading elsewhere, as one input among many. What we publish is what doesn’t depend on anyone’s opinion: the facts about the building itself, so you can decide what matters to you.
The Chicago apartment building dataset also does not rank buildings. There is no best-of ordering and no score. The A–Z index and the neighborhood pages are arranged for browsing, not as a recommendation, and no building’s position on them is a judgement about it.
Checking a building’s record yourself
None of this asks you to take our word for it. Chicago building records are public: the City of Chicago Data Portal publishes a Building Permits dataset covering addresses across the city, which is one way to check a building’s permit history independently of any listing site.
If you find something in the Chicago apartment building dataset that is wrong or out of date, tell us and we will fix it. Email chicagoapartmentbuildings@gmail.com with the building name and what needs changing.
What this means for you
Apartment hunting means checking a lot of sites. We want this one to be the place you trust for the building facts, and the listings get more complete every time a building works with us. Start by browsing buildings by neighborhood and amenity, the map, or the A–Z list.
Want the story behind the site? Read About Us.
More on the Chicago apartment building dataset itself: the published statistics in the Chicago apartment building data summary, the dated change log on the data updates page, and answers to common questions in the Chicago apartment hunting FAQ.
Manage a building?
Help us help you. See our open letter to Chicago apartment building teams.
