Property taxes for many homeowners on the Southwest Side shot up more than 20% from 2023 to 2024, an analysis by Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas showed Monday.
Clearing led the way with an increase of 24.3%. Garfield Ridge bills rose 20.08%, Chicago Lawn jumped 21.5%, Gage Park climbed 20.06%, Archer Heights increased 18.3%, West Lawn rose 17.04%, and West Elsdon grew 16.4%, according to the analysis of 1.8 million tax bills.
The higher tax bills reflect reassessments done last year in Chicago by the Cook County Assessor’s Office, which shifted 2.4% of the city’s property tax burden from businesses to homeowners.
The median residential tax bill in the city rose 16.7% to $4,457 — the largest percentage city increase in at least 30 years. The jump also marks the third consecutive year that a reassessed area of Cook County saw record median tax bill increases for homeowners, largely because commercial values fell while residential values rose. Median means half of the tax bills were higher and half were lower than $4,457.
A dramatic decline in Loop commercial property values, the city’s longtime economic engine, fueled the record property tax increase on homes across the city, Pappas said. The amount of taxes imposed on Loop commercial properties — office buildings, retail stores, hotels and restaurants — for tax year 2024 decreased by more than $129 million because of a significant drop in their values.
“When the Loop gets a cold, the rest of the city gets pneumonia,” Pappas said. “Homeowners across the city are paying the price. I’m particularly concerned about how lower-income homeowners in struggling communities are going to pay their bills.”
Owners of large apartment buildings and complexes, as well as owners of industrial facilities, were not spared from this year’s tax shift. Multifamily properties — those with six or more units — must pay an extra $100.5 million, while industrial property owners must pay $73.5 million more. Commercial property owners across the city, by contrast, will pay $134.4 million less in taxes.
Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi blamed the Board of Review for the higher bills and said he was calling for reforms to protect homeowners. He raised alarms about the unfairness of a property tax system that forces reductions in downtown commercial properties to be shouldered by minority residents.
“The property tax system is inherently unfair,” Kaegi said. “When commercial properties have their assessments lowered by the Board of Review, homeowners are forced to pay the difference. We cannot have a property tax system that favors corporations and does not provide protections for homeowners. This is why I’ve been fighting for a ‘circuit breaker’ in Springfield. It would deliver immediate property tax relief for homeowners and protect against the tax hikes we’re seeing now.”
Homeowners will see the increases when they receive the second installment of their property tax bills, which were sent out last week and are due Dec. 15.
Property taxes are a zero-sum game, Pappas said. When one group of property owners pays a smaller share of an ever-increasing overall tax bill, others whose property values remain level or rise pay more.
For tax year 2024, Chicago homeowners will pay $469.4 million more than they did the year before because of the tax shift from commercial to other properties. Adding to the higher bills: Chicago Public Schools and other local governments asked for $500 million more than they did a year earlier.
Ald. Marty Quinn (13th Ward) said fighting higher property tax bills was why he led the fight last year against Mayor Brandon Johnson’s proposed $300 million property tax hike.
Quinn said his office has been working with homeowners to fight the higher tax bills.
“We’ve held several seminars this summer to show homeowners how to appeal their tax bills,” he said.
Quinn said Johnson turns a deaf ear toward Southwest Side projects such as a new police district, which Quinn and other Southwest Side aldermen have been pushing to relieve some of the burden from the 8th District, the city’s largest.
“It hasn’t changed since it was redrawn in 1968,” Quinn said.
Chicago was reassessed in 2024 for this year’s bills, which triggered the shift in tax burden from commercial properties to others as overall taxes in the city grew by $528.6 million, or 6.3%. Less sticker shock likely will be felt in the city’s suburbs, which were reassessed in prior years.
After being hit with a record 19.9% increase in their median residential tax bill last year, homeowners in the south and southwest suburbs will get something of a break, with a median increase of 2.2%. Businesses face a median increase of 3.1%.
Across Cook County, taxes rose by almost $871.8 million to nearly $19.2 billion, or 4.8% — well above the 3.5% inflation rate for 2024.
In neighboring communities, Bedford Park tax bills are up 5.3%, Summit bills increased 3.5%, and Burbank bills rose 4.5%. Bills in Willow Springs decreased 1.5%, and Justice bills fell 0.8%.
“Taxpayers are experiencing giant jumps in assessments and taxes because the county assessor increased the assessed value by 75%, but taxpayers didn’t enjoy a 75% increase in market value,” said Lyons Township Assessor Pat Hynes. “Frankly, the answer is this is the same thing that happened in the Southland: huge swings in assessed value, but not in market value. It’s a huge unforced error by the county assessor.”
Property taxes have risen across the county for at least 30 consecutive years — the result of schools and local governments such as municipalities, the county, sanitary districts, library districts, park districts and fire districts asking for more money from property owners.