With Cook County’s 2025 property tax bills set to go out by the end of the month, a new report from county Treasurer Maria Pappas’ office finds the total amount of property taxes billed has risen for the 32nd consecutive year.
Commercial property values increased by 0.2%, not nearly enough to offset a rise in property values for homeowners, whose bills continued to outpace the 2.7% inflation rate. The tax levy increased by nearly 4% last year.
It’s a continuation of a yearslong trend of the property tax burden shifting from downtown to the city’s neighborhoods, and even suburban residential properties. The COVID-19 pandemic reduced occupancy in many downtown buildings, leading to dips in property values and businesses’ tax bills dropping nearly 20%. In the meantime, residential bills increased more than 16% in the 2021 to 2023 reassessment cycle — and hundreds of thousands of homeowners saw even larger increases.
The share of the tax burden taken on by residential property owners, who were on the hook for about 58% of the tax burden in 2025, has stayed relatively the same since the last round of bills. But residential properties countywide gained 6.84% in value, increasing their tax bills by 5.34%, or a collective $600 million, between 2024 and 2025.
Chicago’s residential properties bore 20% of the total increase, about $120 million. It comes after Black neighborhoods on the South and West sides saw the sharpest increases in their 2024 tax bills.
Bridgeport and Logan Square both saw median tax bill increases of $274 each in 2025, while West Town and North Center saw median increases over $350.
But the largest median tax bill increases proportionally were seen in Douglas, which saw tax bills jump 6.23%. Uptown and Englewood followed with 5.48% and 5.21% increases respectively.
Homes in the north suburbs — which were reassessed for the 2025 cycle — saw the largest spike, nearly 10%, or about a $360 million increase. The south and west suburbs are up for reassessment for the 2026 cycle, and the city for 2027.
Unincorporated New Trier Township saw the median tax bill increase 27.8%, a jump of more than $7,800. Prospect Heights and Melrose Park each saw nearly 21% increases in their bills as well, for a median increase of more than $1,200.
Businesses in the north suburbs got hit hard as well, with 20% to 30% median bill increases in unincorporated areas of Niles, Wheeling and Norwood Park townships.
South suburban University Park got some relief, with a median decrease of nearly 30% on 2025 tax bills, while Ford Heights bills dropped 8%.
Property tax bills were set to be sent out by Aug. 31 after a delay from July, with payments due Oct. 1. That's shorter than last year’s four-month delay due to a computer issue. The postponement had impacts downstream, as Chicago Public Schools had to pay $220,000 in interest per day on short-term loans it took out to make payroll last year.
Pre-filing is already open for 2026 tax bills, and the Cook County Board of Review has urged residents to start the appeals process, especially if their property has been damaged by recent waves of storms.
The gap between the number of wealthy real estate owners and low-income homeowners who appeal their property value assessments has been partially blamed by the treasurer’s office for why residential property tax bills for lower income households have risen in recent years.
The treasurer’s office previously blamed Cook County’s “broken system” of property tax appeals, which often gives breaks to business owners and wealthy white homeowners who more frequently appeal than low- income homeowners, who became saddled with nearly $2 billion of tax burden because of it.
