data . willkara
dataset · Chicago Department of Public Health via Chicago Data Portal

Chicago food inspections

Every routine canvass, license, and complaint-driven food-establishment inspection by the Chicago Department of Public Health since 2010. One row per inspection; outcome is the results field (Pass / Pass w/ Conditions / Fail). The dataset is anonymized at the inspector level — no per-sanitarian variance is recoverable from the public release.

data through 2026-06-12 · 311,714 inspection rows

percent of inspections marked Fail · since 2020-01-01

Fail rate by facility type, 2020–present

  1. Liquor 31%
  2. Long Term Care 27%
  3. School 26%
  4. Grocery Store 25%
  5. Bakery 25%
  6. Restaurant 23%
  7. Mobile Food Preparer 23%
  8. Daycare Above and Under 2 Years 22%
  9. Daycare (2 - 6 Years) 22%
  10. Children's Services Facility 18%
  11. Catering 18%
  12. Hospital 16%

See the companion story Three buckets, one verdict for the per-establishment distribution view (RidgelinePanel KDE) and the risk-tier comparison that frames why the city's three-tier risk classification doesn't predict outcomes.

Stories using this data

article

Three buckets, one verdict

Chicago classifies every food establishment into one of three risk tiers — High, Medium, Low — that govern how often the city inspects them. Across more than 100,000 inspections since 2020, those three buckets fail at indistinguishable rates. The tier predicts cadence; not outcome. Where the real variation lives: facility type and the trigger that brought the inspector through the door.