The Daily Northwestern has been running its annual Best of Evanston polls since 2013 to capture snapshots of Evanston’s economic, cultural and culinary landscape for the year.

This year’s poll received over 600 responses as The Daily asked NU and Evanston community members about 25 categories from “Best All-Around Restaurant” to “Best Place to People Watch.”

We compiled data from each year’s Best of Evanston polls and economic data from city reports to explore Evanston’s prominent businesses and economic landscape as a whole.

Each of the categories received between 345 and 489 responses. Best new business received the most responses, while best ramen received the least. Best movie/TV show filmed in Evanston had the largest margin of victory as 71.5% of responses voted for “The Bear.”

The closest race was for best ramen between Table to Stix Ramen and Hokkaido Ramen and Sushi Bar, which was determined by a single vote (0.2% of the total vote) at 104 and 103 votes respectively.

Out of all this year’s winners, Tapas Barcelona and Bat 17 have had victories over the most years, as they were the only current winners to have won in the first Best of Evanston survey in 2013. Bat 17 is the most decorated current winner with 20 total victories, while Lakefill and Tapas Barcelona round out the top three.

Outside of those three winners, as well as Chicken Shack and Bennison’s Bakery, none of the current winners had won any awards before 2018. In total, this year’s winners have racked up 86 total awards since 2013.

Lefty’s Righteous Bagels of the best new business category received the most votes with 211, which is over 2.5 times the average amount of votes for that category. FRÍO Gelato of the best sweet treat category had the largest difference at slightly over 2.8 times the average.

Blind Faith Cafe in the best vegetarian category had the smallest difference from the average number of votes in the category among the top 10 vote-receivers with its vote total around 1.4 times the average.

As the favorites among the voters in this year’s Best of Evanston survey, these 10 businesses are some key players whose popularity captures the community’s attention. The net change in the number of businesses per ward can also provide insight on how the economic landscapes of different parts of the city develop over time.

Ward 5 was the only ward of Evanston to have had a negative net change in number of businesses in 2024, as it lost four businesses and opened two. Ward 4 saw the greatest net increase in businesses as it gained 12 and lost five. The greatest concentration of new businesses was in Evanston’s downtown area, which partially sits in Ward 4.

The unemployment rate of Evanston has fluctuated since 2018 with its largest spike during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Today, the rate sits at 3.6%, which is lower than the U.S. average for January 2025 at 4%.

Evanston has also seen several fluctuations in profits from sales taxes since 2018, but it has risen consistently over that time span with its current value of $2,525,121.66 — second only to December 2021. The graph indicates that this stream of income for the city is increasing over time.

The retail vacancy rate for Evanston has decreased steadily since June 2022, going from 5.67% to 3.2%. Recent numbers are the lowest it has been since at least 2018.

Meanwhile, as many companies transition to remote work in the post-pandemic era, office vacancy rate in Evanston has reached its highest point since at least 2018 and sits at 13.7%. This is an almost 4% jump from the previous quarter, which is also the biggest spike since at least 2018.

This data reveals trends into how Evanston’s economy has developed since 2018 and within each individual year since. Much like the businesses who received the most votes in this year’s survey, this data can be a valuable insight into how Evanston will grow in the future.

Email: dannyogrady2026@u.northwestern.edu
X: @DannyMOGrady04

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