Cook County Property Taxes: 5 things you can do to lessen the pain
- Charlie Horonzy
- Jul 23
- 5 min read
As a CPA and financial advisor in Chicagoland, a question I get often is: “My property taxes as a Cook County resident are killing me. What can I do?” In this blog, we’ll talk about how to lessen the pain.
But first – hello! I’m Charlie.
I help people retire in Chicagoland and across the country in a tax-efficient way. You may want to earmark these other blogs about financial planning (Chicagoland folks tend to find these useful.)
Let’s get into it!
How are Cook County property taxes calculated?
It can be pretty brutal owning a home in Cook County, Illinois (from a property tax perspective, that is). Most counties in our nation assess taxes on your property, and require you to pay in two equal payments. This is not how the Cook County property tax system works.
Property taxes in Cook County, Illinois, are based on homes value in the triennial calendar. Every three years, they assess your property taxes. Right now (2025 at the time of the writing of this blog), they are assessing taxes for tax years 2023-2025.
The first payment for your property taxes is based upon on last year’s tax assessment. Suppose your tax assessment was $10,000 in 2024. In 2025, your property taxes would be 55% of the total amount of last year’s; so your first bill would be $5,500. Usually you receive the first bill in March.
The Cook County Tax Assessor will take a look at their budgeting and assessments and figure out how much more money they need to fund services. Your second property tax bill is based upon that analysis. It could be way higher than the first bill. Usually you receive the second bill at the end of summer.
Because Cook County assesses property taxes in arrears, we are paying 2024 taxes in 2025. This can get really tricky when people buy a home and move into the county. You owe taxes on the year that you weren’t even living in the home and the seller gets the credit - because they were living there, not you, the year before.
It can make escrow a royal mess
The way that Cook County assesses property taxes can really throw a wrench in the works when it comes to managing escrow. Banks estimate escrow requirements based on last year’s amount. If the property owner was underwithholding, they get an escrow bill in April.
Here where this process really flies in the face of the property owner’s financial planning. The second tax assessment doesn’t come out until August every year. Imagine not knowing what your property taxes are going to be until half the year is over! It introduces a great deal of uncertainty into a household’s finances, which is why Cook County is one of a few United States counties who proceed this way.
Five ways to ease the pain
If you are struggling at the hands of painful Cook County property taxes, here are five things you can do.
#1 Ask for an appeal
Every year, a homeowner gets two chances to appeal your property taxes in Cook County: one is with the Cook County Assessor’s office, and one is with the Cook County Board of Review.
Your local assessor can help you with the appeals. They help you find “comps”, or comparable properties, to show the assessor. You have to make sure the comp is in the same bracket. If your house is a one-and-a-half-story and you show them a two-story house as a comp, the appeal process may throw it out and one of your two chances is done.
#2 Avoid escrow
Some mortgage lenders require you hold an escrow account; others don’t. Escrow is a bad deal for investors, because you are essentially giving the bank a 0% interest loan. It should be avoided at all costs. To avoid the escrow problems described above, put money into your own bank account, not escrow, and earn interest while you wait to learn how much property tax you’ll owe.
#3 Have an emergency fund
Most people don’t have an extra $10,000 laying around that they can just fire off to the bank if their property taxes come in higher than they thought. Always have an emergency fund which holds 6-9 months of your living expenses in cash. It’s not necessary for just taxes; as a homeowner, you may be called on for unexpected repairs or maintenance. You don’t want to have to rely on credit cards when the boiler suddenly breaks!
#4 Don’t live in Cook County, Illinois
There are other counties in Illinois with much more favorable property taxes than Cook County. These counties assess what the needs are versus their budget, and will bill you in two equal parts. There is far less confusion and uncertainty in other Chicagoland counties. If you don’t deal with this kind of thing well, owning a home in Cook County is not for you; find another suitable area to buy a home in Chicagoland.
#5 Have a financial plan before you buy the home
As someone who helps people retire in Chicagoland and across the country (I live in Riverside, by the way), I find it very common for people to lack any clarity about how much money they actually have to live on. Know how much money you have, what you need to retire, and how you are going to replace your paycheck in retirement. Then you can back into how much of a home you can afford.
Once you figure out your budget for your home purchase, or even if you already own property, get a handle on what your current expenses are.
What is it costing you to live?
How does that compare to what you are earning in household income, before and after taxes? Is there a way to optimize this?
How is that likely to change if you live in this property, now and over time?
These are some of the questions that we ask our clients in the financial planning process.
What exactly is a financial plan, by the way?
We’re glad you asked! It typically includes:
Tax amendments
Tax planning
Investment review
Portfolio analysis
Insurance review
Estate planning collaboration with your attorney
Goals visualization
Year-end tax planning
College planning
Budgeting
Tax loss harvesting
Analysis of concentrated positions
Asset location for tax efficiency
Social Security
Medicare guidance
Charitable giving strategies
Financial planning is important because it gives you clarity about the resources you have, and the obligations that you are facing. This gives you greater ability to make intelligent decisions and control outcomes in your life. Whether or not you own a home, you should have a financial plan; but it is acutely important for homeowners, and especially those in situations where property taxes are uncertain and hard to predict.
On a final note
Thanks for reading to the end of this blog! I hope it’s been helpful.
My name is Charlie and I help people retire in a way that minimizes what they pay to Uncle Sam. I am a CPA and a financial planner. If you’d like to set up a time to talk about tax-efficient retirement planning for people in Chicago or elsewhere, please schedule a time.