Assessments

An assessment is the value of your property as determined by the Cook County Assessor's Office. Illinois law requires periodic updates for real estate tax purposes. CCA works on a Triennial Reassessment Cycle, which means they are required by law to assess one-third of the townships located in the county each year. As such, a property assessed in 2009 will be reassessed in 2012.

After conducting an assessment, the Cook County Treasurer's Office sends out your tax bill, which reflects your portion of the overall amount needed by your community to provide services to area residents and businesses. These funds are generated through the collection of property taxes. Property taxes increase because of higher government spending to provide services and resources.

The amount you owe in property taxes is determined by the assessment of your property. Typically, a higher assessment translates into higher property taxes. Tax assessors consider the following factors:

• Physical characteristics such as age, building materials, the square footage (measured from the outside, and excluding the garage and other accessory buildings such as sheds);
• Correct classification of the building (i.e. is it a single-family home, commercial building, industrial space, etc.; taxes differ for each);
• Value of the property (remember that assessment does not equal value);
  
• Property uniformity. Is the property being assessed at a value equal to that of other similar properties in the area? For example, are all two-bedroom, one-bath brick bungalows sitting on a quarter acre of land taxed in the same range with only minor variations?; and
• Use of the property (commercial, industrial, residential or mixed-use purposes).

Different types of properties are assessed at different levels. For example, an estimated property value for a single-family home at $100,000 would calculate to an assessed valuation of $16,000. Were this building a similarly priced commercial property, the assessed valuation would be $32,000. However, for commercial and industrial properties, additional factors such as number of vacancies in the building and the price of leasing space in the property (for renters) are also considered during the assessment and may impact the taxes.

Download the Property Tax Assessment Level chart to review assessment levels of different types of properties in Cook County.

In general, all properties are evaluated on similar characteristics, including:

• Size and location of the lot;
• Size and age of the building;
• Neighborhood features such as amenities and style of buildings (detached homes vs. apartments vs. industrial); and
• Sales information of area properties.