Want to Start a Business in Chicago? Get Ready for Bureaucracy, Long Waits, Red Tape and High Taxes

If you want to start a business in the city of Chicago, you'll wait six times longer for permits than those who live in other major American cities.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation recently studied municipal business regulations in 10 major American cities: Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Dallas, Detroit, Atlanta, Raleigh and St. Louis.

And Chicago doesn't compare favorably on many factors. Out of the 10 cities, Chicago ranked seventh overall in the efficiency of its regulatory environment for local business.

"If you want to start a professional services business in Chicago you are basically facing a dystopian nightmare," concludes Matthew Yglesias, the executive editor at Vox.com in a recap of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation's Regulatory Commerce Index.

On taxes, Chicago ranks near the bottom among major U.S. cities with the highest corporate tax rates and unemployment tax rates.

"Chicago has one of the highest tax burdens for entrepreneurs and small businesses," the study notes. "The city has the highest levels of corporate, employment, and operating taxes across the cities covered in the report. Chicago also places additional taxes on entrepreneurs in the form of state employee expense taxes."

And the wait for construction permits in Chicago can be twice as long, the study finds.

But it's not all bad news. Chicago ranks No. 1 in the efficiency of enforcing contracts.

"Local officials and policymakers can better understand the business conditions facing entrepreneurs and small firms by simply looking at the local laws, processes, and costs on the books for starting a business and other regulations common over the life cycle of a business," the study concludes.