Most Popular Dog Breeds in Chicago: City License Data

The short answer

Mixed Breed leads; Pitbull is the top specific label.

Mixed Breed appears in 14,535 registry profiles. The leading specific breed label is Pitbull, followed by Labrador Retriever, German Shepherd, and Shih Tzu.

Popular dog breeds

The top 20 Chicago breed labels.

Labels remain separate when the city source keeps them separate; no hidden breed-merging rules are applied.

#1 Mixed Breed 14,535 profiles

#2 Pitbull 7,417 profiles

#3 Labrador Retriever 5,720 profiles

#4 German Shepherd 4,069 profiles

#5 Shih Tzu 3,081 profiles

#6 Goldendoodle 2,886 profiles

#7 Terrier Mixed 2,713 profiles

#8 Golden Retriever 2,661 profiles

#9 Chihuahua Smoothhaired 2,046 profiles

#10 Beagle 1,868 profiles

#11 Yorkshire Terrier 1,753 profiles

#12 Australian Shepherd Dog 1,594 profiles

#13 Siberian Husky 1,433 profiles

#14 French Bulldog 1,334 profiles

#15 Chihuahua 1,294 profiles

#16 Labradoodle 1,237 profiles

#17 Maltese 1,182 profiles

#18 Australian Cattle Dog 1,087 profiles

#19 American Staffordshire Bull Terrier 1,057 profiles

#20 Pomeranian 982 profiles

Searchable breed list

150 breed and mix labels from Chicago records.

Use the filter to find a breed. Counts show both registry profiles and literal license-event rows.

150 breed labels

Breed label Registry profiles License records Rank

Mixed Breed 14,535 17,714 #1

Pitbull 7,417 8,764 #2

Labrador Retriever 5,720 7,526 #3

German Shepherd 4,069 5,713 #4

Shih Tzu 3,081 4,011 #5

Goldendoodle 2,886 3,576 #6

Terrier Mixed 2,713 3,544 #7

Golden Retriever 2,661 3,341 #8

Chihuahua Smoothhaired 2,046 2,609 #9

Beagle 1,868 2,344 #10

Yorkshire Terrier 1,753 2,175 #11

Australian Shepherd Dog 1,594 1,868 #12

Siberian Husky 1,433 1,742 #13

French Bulldog 1,334 1,621 #14

Chihuahua 1,294 1,604 #15

Labradoodle 1,237 1,615 #16

Maltese 1,182 1,519 #17

Australian Cattle Dog 1,087 1,284 #18

American Staffordshire Bull Terrier 1,057 1,265 #19

Pomeranian 982 1,227 #20

Lab Mix 934 1,203 #21

Border Collie 929 1,180 #22

Boxer Dog 919 1,145 #23

Pug 856 1,074 #24

Bulldog 848 993 #25

Poodle Miniature 838 1,005 #26

Cockapoo 825 1,055 #27

Jack Russell Terrier 814 1,055 #28

Terrier 814 1,043 #29

Boston Terrier 796 1,029 #30

Mixed 739 1,010 #31

Rottweiler 718 902 #32

Pitbull Mix 711 842 #33

Bully 651 681 #34

Schnauzer Miniature 639 833 #35

Shiba Inu 627 763 #36

Bernese Mountain Dog 626 752 #37

Bichon Frise 614 845 #38

Havanese 612 802 #39

Poodle 611 763 #40

Welsh Corgi Pembroke 605 731 #41

Cavalier King Charles Spaniel 585 728 #42

Poodle Standard 574 699 #43

Cocker Spaniel 532 703 #44

Chihuahua Longhaired 497 598 #45

Poodle Mix 492 657 #46

Beagle Mix 486 649 #47

Poodle Toy 474 562 #48

Miniature Pinscher 452 589 #49

Chihuahua Mix 451 587 #50

Shepherd Mix 447 601 #51

Cavoodle 442 517 #52

Greyhound 439 547 #53

Husky 427 507 #54

Dachshund Miniature Long Haired 420 516 #55

Dobermann Pinscher 412 541 #56

Dachshund Miniature Smooth 403 509 #57

Great Dane 384 478 #58

Dachshund Smooth Haired 362 454 #59

Boxer 350 451 #60

Hound Mix 349 465 #61

Labrador Retriever Mix 328 439 #62

Boxer Mix 328 415 #63

West Highland White Terrier 326 458 #64

Lhasa Apso 295 387 #65

Mix 288 380 #66

Great Pyrenees 283 339 #67

German Shepherd Mix 281 366 #68

Staffordshire Bull Terrier 273 338 #69

Pit Bull 266 334 #70

Terrier Mix 261 343 #71

Shih Tzu Mix 259 355 #72

Belgian Shepherd Dog Malinois 259 315 #73

Labrador Mix 254 327 #74

Schnoodle 250 329 #75

Cairn Terrier 245 323 #76

Basset Hound 243 294 #77

German Short-Haired Pointer 240 291 #78

Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier 234 298 #79

English Bulldog 229 277 #80

Shetland Sheepdog 217 275 #81

Weimaraner 212 281 #82

Border Collie Mix 203 288 #83

Rhodesian Ridgeback 201 239 #84

Bull Terrier 196 253 #85

Yorkie 187 241 #86

Cane Corso 184 229 #87

Rat Terrier 184 227 #88

Pointer Dog 184 220 #89

Portuguese Water Dog 179 230 #90

Shar Pei 178 223 #91

Puggle 171 235 #92

Maltese Mix 171 228 #93

Husky Mix 164 219 #94

Samoyed 164 202 #95

Dachshund 164 190 #96

Maltipoo 159 212 #97

Newfoundland 153 193 #98

English Springer Spaniel 150 178 #99

Chow Chow 148 195 #100

American Pitbull 145 167 #101

Bullmastiff 144 169 #102

Unknown/Not Listed 144 148 #103

Corgi 142 177 #104

Canine 141 176 #105

Lab 139 179 #106

Old English Sheepdog 138 167 #107

Dalmatian 137 181 #108

Papillon 137 179 #109

Hound 137 160 #110

Retriever Mix 136 181 #111

Basenji 136 169 #112

Alaskan Malamute 136 154 #113

Miniature Schnauzer 135 183 #114

Vizsla 134 173 #115

Shepard Mix 131 180 #116

Foxhound 131 169 #117

Collie Mix 130 177 #118

Hungarian VIzsla 130 154 #119

Airedale Terrier 129 170 #120

Shepherd 127 163 #121

Akita 121 155 #122

Italian Greyhound 120 143 #123

Whippet 119 139 #124

Scottish Terrier 116 158 #125

Toy Poodle 115 155 #126

Cavapoo 115 138 #127

Mastiff 112 128 #128

Schnauzer 110 134 #129

Brittany Dog 110 133 #130

Standard Poodle 108 139 #131

Bernedoodle 106 132 #132

German Shepard 105 162 #133

Pit Mix 105 134 #134

Pug Mix 104 133 #135

Schnauzer Standard 103 130 #136

Mini Goldendoodle 102 130 #137

Mutt 101 119 #138

Labrador 101 117 #139

Border Terrier 100 143 #140

American Bulldog 99 121 #141

Pointer Mix 96 133 #142

Dachshund Mix 96 131 #143

Anatolian Shepherd Dog 95 112 #144

St Bernard Dog 94 113 #145

Pembroke Welsh Corgi 92 113 #146

Welsh Corgi Cardigan 88 102 #147

Pit 88 98 #148

Moodle 86 108 #149

English Mastiff 85 103 #150

The coat palette

Black is the most common recorded color.

Color values are also preserved as entered, including two- and three-color combinations.

#1 Black 13,530 profiles

#2 Brown 8,323 profiles

#3 White 7,244 profiles

#4 Black/Tan 5,261 profiles

#5 Tan 4,796 profiles

#6 White/Black 4,682 profiles

#7 Black/White 4,036 profiles

#8 Tan/White 2,818 profiles

#9 White/Brown 2,759 profiles

#10 Beige/White 2,377 profiles

Counting notes

One row is a license event, not necessarily one dog.

The city export does not contain a dog ID, license/emblem ID, or anonymized owner ID. Renewals can therefore repeat the same dog, while two different dogs can share the same name and traits.

What “registry profile” means: a distinct combination of dog name, breed, color, gender, ZIP code, and ward. That removes obvious repeated rows and gives a steadier popularity signal, but it can still merge different dogs or split one dog after a move or profile change. We publish both the 147,119 license-event rows and the 116,813 registry profiles, and never describe either as an exact count of unique Chicago dogs.

Breed data FAQ

How to read the Chicago breed rankings.

What is the most popular dog breed in Chicago?

“Mixed Breed” is the most common breed label in this city export, with 14,535 registry profiles and 17,714 license records. Among specific breed labels, Pitbull ranks first.

Why are some Chicago dog breed labels similar?

The breed field is free text and the city did not provide a codebook. Tails preserves source labels instead of silently combining variants such as Chihuahua and Chihuahua Smoothhaired.

Does the breed ranking count unique dogs?

No. The source rows are license events. Registry profiles deduplicate exact name, breed, color, gender, ZIP, and ward combinations, but cannot establish unique identity without a dog or license ID.

How many breed labels are shown?

The searchable table shows the top 150 non-placeholder labels. The aggregate retains the top 300; lower-frequency source values include spelling and data-entry variants that need a city codebook before normalization.