The Who Owns Chicago project — part of the 2024 Mansueto Data Journalism Initiative - allows users to identify the owners of every parcel of land in Chicago and Cook County. The project focuses on finding corporate ownership networks whose identities are often masked behind multiple entity names, such as LLCs or Trusts. Our findings shed light on which neighborhoods experience the highest rates of corporate ownership and identify the specific networks acquiring land and residences. Ultimately, this project will provide a tool to help us understand how these ownership patterns have influenced the local housing markets in recent years.

The project unfolded in four key stages: Data Retrieval, Data Cleaning, Linking, and Network Analysis. Data Retrieval involved accessing various data sources, such as property tax records and LLC filings, including documents obtained through a FOIA request. Data Cleaning, the most time-consuming phase, was essential to standardize data across all datasets. Linking required not only matching datasets but also correcting errors and truncations that went undetected during cleaning. Finally, the Network Analysis stage established linking standards to avoid over - or under - matching networks, and developed strategies to identify multi-layered connections. The discovered networks are then visualized on maps, ranked by portfolio size, and can be filtered on various variables, such as by housing classification.

Read more about our methodology and download the data in order to make your own findings.

To get started, follow the links for an Entity Search or Map Search. If you know a particular owner name or property address you want to search for, start with an Entity Search. If you want to explore a map and select parcels to learn about, start with a Map Search.