Cook County property taxes rise most in suburbs

While most Cook County residents have seen property taxes rise, the suburbs saw the biggest hikes during the past 20 years. Chicago homeowners and business owners are feeling less tax pain than their suburban peers.

Property taxes are on the rise in most of Cook County.

The suburbs have it worse than the city, based on 2022 data released by the Cook County Treasurer.

The residential property owners hit hardest were in the south and southwest suburbs, where the average bill went up 127% to $4,917 from $2,170 in 20 years. Businesses owners in the north and northwest suburbs saw 134% property tax hikes, to $28,710 from $12,282. Commercial property tax hikes in the south and southwest suburbs were not far behind.

Tax bills were supposed to come due Aug. 1, 2023, but were just pushed back to Dec. 1. While those bills have grown significantly over 20 years, the changes have been uneven.

While Chicago has the second-highest commercial property taxes among large American cities, commercial property owners in the suburbs have seen their taxes rise more than double.

How are Cook County residents supposed to shoulder ever-larger burdens? And how are businesses supposed to grow and create new jobs when taxes make it hard to survive? Many are refusing to keep doing so. A survey shows high taxes are driving people away.

A county struggling with high crime, crushing taxes and fleeing residents needs to look for solutions such as public pension reform. Cook County deserves to be a place people are eager to move to, not a place people seek to escape.