Chicago at a glance
| Metro area | Chicago–Naperville–Elgin, IL-IN |
|---|---|
| Area codes | 312 and 872 (the Loop and downtown), 773 (the rest of the city), 847 and 224 (north and northwest suburbs), 630 and 331 (west suburbs), 708 (south and near-west suburbs), 219 (Northwest Indiana) |
| Business districts | the Loop and River North, Pilsen and Little Village, Lincoln Park and Lakeview, Naperville and the western suburbs, Schaumburg and the northwest suburbs, Northwest Indiana |
| Time zone | Central Time |
Chicago–Naperville–Elgin, IL-IN is one of the 25 largest U.S. metro areas in the Census Bureau's population estimates.
Small business in the Chicago area
Chicagoland's small businesses include neighborhood restaurants and bakeries, salons and barbershops, two-flat landlords and property managers, plumbers and HVAC companies fighting winter, and professional firms in the Loop and the suburbs. Northwest Indiana is part of the same metro, with its own rules for recording.
Where Ava helps Chicago businesses
- Winter emergencies. Heating and plumbing companies can have Ava flag no-heat and frozen-pipe calls for the on-call tech.
- Two-flat and courtyard buildings. Property managers can have Ava take tenant maintenance requests and flag emergencies by your rules.
- Neighborhood restaurants. Restaurants can send dinner-rush calls to Ava for pickup and reservation requests.
An example call
Pilsen Property Group (example) · Ava, AI receptionist
There's no heat in our apartment on 18th Street
I'm sorry. I'm the office's AI assistant, and this call may be recorded. Is the whole building out, or just your unit?
Recording calls in the Chicago area
Illinois generally requires all-party consent to record a private conversation (720 ILCS 5/14-2), while Indiana uses a one-party rule for phone calls. A recording notice in Ava's greeting covers callers on both sides of the state line. Read more on the state pages for Illinois.
Ava always says she's an AI. If your setup records calls, the script we draft adds a short recording notice to her greeting, and you approve the wording.
Sources
- Justia 50-state recording survey (reviewed Sept. 2024)
- 720 ILCS 5/14-2 (Illinois General Assembly)
- 18 U.S.C. § 2511
- Census Bureau metro population estimates
General information, not legal advice. Checked November 3, 2026; laws change.