(Above) Row of older brick homes in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood, where property taxes increased an average of $2,508 from last year.

By Don DeBat

May 12, 2025 – The two certainties in the universe are death and higher property taxes. The latter is the current reality for nearly a quarter million Chicago and Cook County homeowners.

According to new data released by the Cook County Assessor’s office, property tax bills of these homeowners “spiked” by a whopping 25 percent or more in a single year.

The typical Cook County homeowner saw their real estate tax bill jump by an average of $1,700. In total, 236,841 homeowners paid close to $500 million more in property taxes as a result of the increases and local government’s failure to control spending.

Several North Side Chicago lakefront townships were hit hard by the tax spike between 2021 and 2023, according to the following Assessor data:

North Chicago Township. 531 homeowners in the upscale neighborhoods of Lincoln Park and Old Town saw their property taxes catapult an average of $2,508.

Lake View Township. A total of 3,968 lakefront property owners in Lake View and Edgewater (left) watched as their bills rose an average of $1,774.

Jefferson Park Township. A whopping 21,234 Northwest Side homeowners had their bills rise an average of $1,773.

West Township. 12,910 property owners in such popular neighborhoods as Bucktown, Logan Square, and Wicker Park witnessed tax bills rising an average of $1,740.

Rogers Park Township. Approximately 3,877 homeowners saw tax bills rise an average of $1,162.

The Assessor’s new data dashboard is a historical analysis of property tax bill spikes between tax years 2021 and 2023. It includes data from second-installment tax bills mailed in the summer of 2024. That year, the typical homeowner in Cook County’s south and west suburbs saw a tax bill increase of 20 percent.

“This data quantifies what so many families have already experienced – being suddenly saddled with much larger tax bills,” said Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi (right). “Homeowners typically budget responsibly, based on predicted increases, but the larger property tax system doesn’t provide predictability.”

Tax spikes also contribute to forcing landlords of income properties to raise apartment rents, analysts say. As a result of tax hikes, rents are rising faster in posh neighborhoods such as Lincoln Park and Old Town.

• Lincoln Park. The owner of a Victorian six-flat recently leased a one-bedroom apartment for $2,765, up 31.6 percent from $2,100 in 2024. The base rent in 2025 was $2,575, plus a $75 utility pass-through fee, a pet rent of $50 per animal, and a storage locker charge of $65. That’s a 46.5 percent rent increase, most of which will go to pay for a 2024 projected real estate tax bill of $27,620.

• Old Town. The owner of a Victorian four-flat leased a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment for $3,620, up 27 percent from $2,850 in 2024. The base rent for 2025 was $3,495, plus a $75 utility pass-through fee, and a pet rent of $50 per animal. The lion’s share of the rent increase will go to pay for a 2024 projected real estate tax bill of $26,816.

‘Circuit breaker’ coming?

The Assessor is working on new state legislation to create a property tax relief initiative for homeowners.

Called the “circuit breaker” program, it would provide relief to qualifying homeowners who have experienced a 25 percent spike or more in their property tax bill. Credits given to homeowners would cover up to half of the tax bill increase.

The Circuit Breaker Property Tax Relief Act (SB1978) was filed in the Illinois Senate by Senator Patrick Joyce (D-40) and in the Illinois House (HB3808) by Representative Justin Slaughter (D-27).