Privacy

What we collect, which is almost nothing.

Last updated August 24, 2026

The Chicago Signal is a free email newsletter published in the Chicago area. This page covers what happens to your data on thechicagosignal.com and in the newsletter; questions about any of it go to hey@thechicagosignal.com.

What we collect

• Your email address, when you type it into one of the subscribe forms. That's the only thing we ask you for, and the only field on the form.
• Where you subscribed from — the page you were on and any campaign tags in the link that brought you (the utm_ parameters). We use this to know which guides bring readers in. It's attached to your subscriber record.
• Standard web request data — your IP address, browser and requested URL, processed by Cloudflare, which serves this site, to deliver pages and block abuse.
• How you read the newsletter — whether an issue was opened and which links were clicked, recorded by beehiiv, the platform that sends it. This is aggregate-level reporting we use to decide what to write more of.
• Which tools and guides you use, if you're a subscriber. Links in our emails may carry a subscriber identifier. If you follow one and use any of our tools (the property-tax estimator, the rent-vs-buy calculator, the suburb-match quiz, the commute-based suburb finder) or view a guide flagged for measurement, that activity is associated with your subscriber record. Numeric inputs are stored as ranges, not exact values. This information is used to tailor what we send and, with your consent in each case, to make introductions to relevant local businesses. See "Tool usage" below for the mechanics and the opt-out.

We do not ask for your name, your address, or anything else. There is no account, no login, and no profile beyond what's described here.

What we don't do

• We don't sell, rent, or trade the list. Not to sponsors, not to anyone. A partner we introduce you to never receives your data — they receive an email from us, on your behalf, after you've said yes to that specific introduction.
• We don't run ad trackers. There is no advertising pixel, no third-party analytics script, and no cross-site tracker of any kind on these pages. What this site does keep, all first-party and none of it sold or shared: three things in your browser's session storage, which empties when you close the tab — the referral code from a link you followed, the campaign tags on it, and whether you dismissed the subscribe bar (none of it leaves your browser unless you subscribe, and none of it identifies you); and, only if you click a subscriber link from one of our emails, one small first-party cookie tied to your subscriber record, covered in "Tool usage" below.
• We don't email you anything you didn't sign up for — the newsletter, Tuesday and Thursday, and that's it.

Tool usage

In effect since August 23, 2026; extended to additional tools and guides on August 24, 2026.

Links to our tools and to certain guides, when they appear in an email we send you, carry a code identifying you as a subscriber. Following such a link sets a first-party cookie containing a hashed identifier derived from your email address; the cookie persists for 180 days. If you then complete an interaction on a tool (an estimate, a calculation, the quiz, a commute search) or view a flagged guide, that activity is recorded against your subscriber record: the town selected, the answers given, the results returned, the guide viewed. Home values and rents are stored as ranges (for example, "$500k–$1M" or "$1,500–$2,500"), not the figures entered.

Flagged guides are those covering housing, tax, suburb, and family-activity topics. The record in each case is limited to the page viewed; we do not collect information about household members.

This information is used to tailor what we send and, on occasion, to offer an introduction to a relevant local business (a realtor, a mover, a home inspector). No introduction is made, and no identifying information reaches any business, without your consent to that specific introduction. Where such a business is a paying partner, that relationship is disclosed at the time of the offer.

Visits that do not originate from a tagged email link are not associated with any record. This section applies to subscribers only; no data is collected about anyone prior to subscribing.

To opt out, email hey@thechicagosignal.com. All tool-usage data associated with your address will be deleted (see "Getting out, and getting deleted" below). Opting out does not affect your newsletter subscription.

Who else touches it

Three companies process data on our behalf, and each has its own policy:

• beehiiv stores the subscriber list and sends the newsletter. Your email address lives there. See beehiiv's privacy policy.
• Cloudflare hosts and serves this site.
• Google Fonts serves the two typefaces these pages use, which means Google receives your IP address when a page loads. No other Google service runs here.

If we ever add a fourth, this list changes and the date at the top changes with it.

Getting out, and getting deleted

Every issue has an unsubscribe link in the footer. One click, no questions, no retention flow. Unsubscribing stops the email; the record stays in beehiiv marked inactive unless you ask us to delete it.

To have your record deleted outright, or to ask what we hold on you, or to have it corrected: email hey@thechicagosignal.com from the address you subscribed with, and we'll do it and confirm. There's no form and no waiting period beyond however long it takes one person to read his email. One request covers your tool-usage history too — you don't need to ask twice.

Kids

This isn't a site or a newsletter directed at children, and we don't knowingly collect anything from anyone under 13. If a child's address ended up on the list, email us and it's gone.

The guides

The guides are journalism, not professional advice. The property tax, rent-versus-buy and moving guides describe how things work and what the public records say; they aren't legal, tax, or financial advice, and rules and deadlines change. Check with the agency or a professional before acting on anything with money attached.

Changes, and how to reach us

If what we do with your data changes, this page changes and the date at the top moves. Material changes get a line in the newsletter too — we're not going to quietly rewrite this page and hope you don't notice.

Questions, requests, or complaints: hey@thechicagosignal.com.