(Above) Google Street View of 200 West Monroe Street in the Loop. Valued at $100 million when purchased in 2014, the 23-story building now reflects Chicago’s struggling commercial real estate market.

By Don DeBat

Jun. 4, 2025 – Thousands of Chicago and Cook County homeowners soon may feel the tax bite caused by empty offices and sinking commercial real estate values downtown.

According to Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi, North Side Chicago homeowners could see their property taxes increase this year because residential property took on a greater share of the city’s tax burden after appeals for the 2024 reassessment cycle were finalized at the Cook County Board of Review.

When the Assessor’s office completed its triennial reassessment of Chicago in 2024, total assessed value increased $5.4 billion. Residential values set by the Assessor’s office decreased by 1 percent in all townships except Lakeview and West Chicago, where they decreased by 2 percent.

“Because the total value of non-residential and commercial property in Chicago increased slightly more than residential value, homeowners saw their share of assessed value decrease from 51 percent to 49 percent,” explained Kaegi (left).

“This could have reduced homeowners’ share of the property tax burden. However, the Assessor’s Office is not the final word on a property’s taxable value,” he said.

The Cook County Board of Review, a separate office within the property tax system, has the final authority to alter assessments appealed to their office before tax bills are calculated, said Kaegi.

However, this year, the Board of Review cut commercial property values in Chicago by 17 percent, or a whopping $4.3 billion in assessed value. By contrast, the Board of Review only decreased residential property values by 1 percent, or $0.4 billion. These commercial cuts by the Board of Review mean that homeowners saw their share of assessed value – which correlates with the overall property tax burden – jump to 54 percent from 49 percent under the Assessor’s assessments.

For the Class 5A properties that make up the majority of commercial property in Chicago – such as office buildings, retail stores, and hotels – total assessed value at the end of the 2024 reassessment and appeals cycle was $14.3 billion. This was lower than the $14.4 billion value of these properties when the reassessment cycle began.

While the Assessor’s office increased the value of Class 5A property by 21 percent initially, the Board of Review reduced values for properties in this class that appealed their assessments by more than $3 billion.

“This burden-shifting is not new,” said Kaegi about the ongoing battle between his office and the Board of Appeals. (Right) Looking into the South Loop from across DuSable Harbor (2012 photo).

“During the last Chicago reassessment in 2021, residential properties made up 53 percent of citywide assessed value after appeals to the Board of Review were finalized, in large part due to $6.2 billion in cuts for commercial properties on appeal,” he said

In the intervening years, reassessments in the suburbs of Cook County have also seen the tax burden shift onto homeowners. A recent study from the Cook County Treasurer’s Office showed that homeowners in Cook County saw nearly $2 billion added to tax bills over a period of three years after “businesses found particular success appealing to the Board of Review.”

Chicago’s total assessed value, a proxy for its tax base, could have grown 22 percent, or $9 billion, under the Assessor’s values. After the Board of Review’s appeals were finalized, the tax base instead increased by 11 percent, or $4.4 billion.

The largest reductions from the Board of Review for commercial properties, both by percentage and assessed value, came in the three townships that cover Chicago’s downtown: North Chicago, South Chicago, and West Chicago.

(Left) Appeal changes by township.

More info:

• Cook County Assessor’s Office Data Dashboards
• Data Dashboard: Municipalities