Chicago zoning comparison · apartment district vs transit-bonus-eligible corridor
RM-5 vs B3-3: which lets you build more?
B3-3 carries the larger envelope — FAR 3 vs 2; the height limits are 65 ft vs 47 ft. They also come from different district families, so the use mix differs: RM-5 allows multi-unit residential; B3-3 allows ground-floor retail, multi-unit residential, mixed-use buildings and offices.
Figures originally read from a Title 17 excerpt in a third-party zoning report dated 18 September 2024. On 24 August 2026 the bulk standards — floor area ratio, lot area per unit, building height and minimum lot area — were re-checked against the current adopted edition 2026-S-73 and found unchanged. Setbacks and parking ratios were not part of that pass and still rest on the 2024 reading. Data snapshot generated 2026-08-24. How this data is produced and checked →
Side by side
| RM-5 Residential Multi-Unit 5 | B3-3 Community Shopping 3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Max FAR | 2 | 3 |
| Max height | 47 ft | 65 ft |
| Lot area per unit | 400 sf | 400 sf |
| Units on a standard 25×125 ft lot | 7 | 7 |
| Min lot area | 1,650 sf | — |
| Residential parking / unit | 1 | 1 |
| Max lot coverage | 65% | 75% |
| Permitted uses | multi-unit residential | ground-floor retail, multi-unit residential, mixed-use buildings and offices |
| Connected Communities bulk bonus tier | No | Yes (B-3/C-3 tier) |
Green marks the more permissive value. Setbacks are contextual in both districts and omitted here — see the district pages for the working scalars and the governing formulas.