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Large-building energy: emissions and ratings by community area

Chicago’s Energy Benchmarking Ordinance requires buildings of 50,000 square feet or larger to report their energy use each year. This map shows, for those large buildings, the median greenhouse-gas intensity and the median Chicago Energy Rating in each community area. Switch between the two views and the reporting year, or click any community area for the buildings behind the number.

Data year:
Full ranking — all 31 neighborhoods
RankNeighborhoodmedian kg CO₂e per sq ft, large buildings
1Norwood Park7.8
2Englewood7.6
3North Park7.5
4South Lawndale7.5
5Douglas7.4
6Lincoln Square7.4
7Woodlawn7.0
8Hyde Park6.6
9Loop6.6
10Austin6.4
11Dunning6.4
12South Shore6.4
13West Ridge6.4
14Humboldt Park6.3
15Kenwood6.3
16Near North Side6.3
17O'Hare6.3
18Grand Boulevard6.1
19Lincoln Park6.1
20Near West Side6.1
21Uptown5.9
22Belmont Cragin5.7
23Edgewater5.7
24Near South Side5.7
25Rogers Park5.7
26Logan Square5.6
27North Center5.6
28Washington Heights5.6
29West Town5.4
30Lake View5.3
31Irving Park5.0
—Albany Parkinsufficient data
—Archer Heightsinsufficient data
—Armour Squareinsufficient data
—Ashburninsufficient data
—Auburn Greshaminsufficient data
—Avalon Parkinsufficient data
—Avondaleinsufficient data
—Beverlyinsufficient data
—Bridgeportinsufficient data
—Brighton Parkinsufficient data
—Burnsideinsufficient data
—Calumet Heightsinsufficient data
—Chathaminsufficient data
—Chicago Lawninsufficient data
—Clearinginsufficient data
—East Garfield Parkinsufficient data
—East Sideinsufficient data
—Edison Parkinsufficient data
—Forest Gleninsufficient data
—Fuller Parkinsufficient data
—Gage Parkinsufficient data
—Garfield Ridgeinsufficient data
—Greater Grand Crossinginsufficient data
—Hegewischinsufficient data
—Hermosainsufficient data
—Jefferson Parkinsufficient data
—Lower West Sideinsufficient data
—McKinley Parkinsufficient data
—Montclareinsufficient data
—Morgan Parkinsufficient data
—Mount Greenwoodinsufficient data
—New Cityinsufficient data
—North Lawndaleinsufficient data
—Oaklandinsufficient data
—Portage Parkinsufficient data
—Pullmaninsufficient data
—Riverdaleinsufficient data
—Roselandinsufficient data
—South Chicagoinsufficient data
—South Deeringinsufficient data
—Washington Parkinsufficient data
—West Elsdoninsufficient data
—West Englewoodinsufficient data
—West Garfield Parkinsufficient data
—West Lawninsufficient data
—West Pullmaninsufficient data

How to read this map

This is a large-building map, not a neighborhood-emissions map. Only buildings of 50,000 sq ft or more are covered by the ordinance, so a community area’s value reflects its large offices, apartment towers, schools, and hospitals — not its houses, its streets, or its total carbon footprint. Coverage varies enormously: the Loop has hundreds of covered buildings, while some community areas have only a handful. Community areas with fewer than 15 measured buildings in a year are shown as “insufficient data,” and the drawer always names how many buildings sit behind a figure.

GHG intensity is the median greenhouse-gas intensity — kilograms of CO₂e per square foot — of a community area’s covered buildings. Warmer means more GHG-intensive per square foot. Energy rating is the median Chicago Energy Rating, a 0-to-4-star score the City assigns from each building’s benchmarking data; greener means higher-rated (more efficient). Both are medians, so one very large or very inefficient building does not swing the whole area.

Source: City of Chicago — Chicago Energy Benchmarking (open data), by reporting year. The map offers reporting years 2019–2023 and defaults to 2023, the most recent complete year (buildings report the prior calendar year each spring). A building is counted in a year only if it actually reported an energy figure. See methodology for the ≥50,000 sq ft coverage rule, the median definitions, and the suppression threshold.