Cook County property tax bills up 78% as values rise 7%

Typical property tax bill increased 78% on a Cook County residence since 2007. Median property values only rose 7.3%. That leaves residents paying $2,558 more a year in property taxes while their biggest investment fails to keep up with inflation.

The typical Cook County condominium or single-family homeowner paid 78% more in property taxes in 2024 than they spent in 2007, despite median property values only rising 7.3%.

The median property tax bill paid by the owner of a single-family home or condominium in Cook County grew to $5,821 last year – an increase of $2,558 since 2007, the oldest data available.

The median property values for the 1.17 million single-family homes and condominiums examined in Cook County only rose from $224,000 to $240,000, according to data from the Cook County Assessor’s Office.

An Illinois Policy Institute analysis tracked all single-family and condominium properties in Cook County during 2006 and 2023 with market values between $25,000 and $2.5 million. Property tax bills are issued one year and paid the following year, so 2023 bills were paid in 2024.

The data shows 65 cents of every property tax dollar paid in Cook County last year went to fund public schools and community colleges. That translates to $3,797 per property compared to $2,089 paid for schools in 2007.

The second-largest expenditure was the municipal fund, which consumed 20 cents of every property tax dollar in 2024. The remaining money went to fund Cook County governments and miscellaneous expenses.

Single-family units, which were the most common residential property in Cook County, bore the brunt of the property tax increase. Homeowners saw a $2,945 spike in their median property tax bill during the period – a more than 83% increase.

Property taxes on condominiums, which are over 19% of residential properties countywide, increased by $1,489, or more than 59%.   

Illinoisans pay the second-highest property tax rate in the U.S., shelling out about 2.07% of their property’s value each year. That’s more than double the national rate.

Cook County in 2022 ranked among the nation’s 100 most expensive for property taxes, with taxpayers spending more than the typical homeowners in Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, Louisiana and South Carolina combined.

In Illinois, a homeowner’s property tax bill is based on two primary factors: the assessed value of the property and the amount of revenue your local taxing districts requests to operate the next year.

Think property taxes don’t matter because you rent? Wrong. Landlords pass on property tax costs through higher rent, so property taxes can significantly impact the affordability of housing for both homeowners and renters.

A growing share of property taxes have gone to government pensions, which continue eating more school and local government resources. Taxpayers’ contributions to state pension systems alone have grown nearly 20-fold from $614 million in fiscal year 1996 to $11.2 billion in fiscal year 2025.

Consequently, Illinois ended 2024 with an estimated $211 billion in unfunded state and local pension liabilities, which taxpayers eventually must pay. Illinois government pensions have the nation’s worst funding ratio and the state carries the biggest pension debt. It is at a level between what experts warn is “deeply troubled” and “past the point of no return.”

A “hold harmless” pension reform plan, such as one developed by the Illinois Policy Institute and based loosely on bipartisan 2013 reforms, could help eliminate the state’s unfunded pension liability. It could also reduce homeowners’ property tax payments over time while providing retirement security for pensioners.

With nearly 3 in 5 Illinoisans believing the value of public services they receive are not worth the property taxes they pay, lawmakers should be pursuing structural reforms. They should prioritize property tax relief without compromising spending on core services, or else they risk more residents leaving for lower-tax states.