A homeowner on Elm Street in Winnetka or Green Bay Road in Glencoe will see their property tax bill climb roughly 6.7% when second-installment notices arrive Sept. 1, pushing the typical north suburban bill to $8,007.

Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas released her annual tax analysis Monday, Aug. 24, quantifying the impact of New Trier Township's 2025 reassessment cycle on homeowners in Winnetka, Wilmette, Kenilworth, Glencoe and Northfield. The bills are due Oct. 1.

The bills are running about two months behind their normal July mailing schedule, continuing delays tied to the county's computer system transition.

The 6.7% jump stings, but it's less than half the historic 15.7% spike north suburban homeowners absorbed in the prior reassessment cycle. Assessed values in New Trier Township grew 39% over three years of surging home prices, with the median single-family sale reaching $1,314,000 in 2024, according to the Cook County Assessor's Office.

The burden is shifting.

Homeowners now shoulder 64.5% of the north suburban tax base, up from 62.4% the year before, after appeals and exemptions are factored in. Across the broader north and northwest suburbs, residential owners bear 68% of the tax base, up from 66% before reassessment, per a separate Assessor's Office analysis released Aug. 18. Countywide, the residential share is the highest since 2019, having risen 11 percentage points over that span.

The driver: home values have soared while commercial properties, particularly office buildings with high vacancy rates, have stagnated. It's the fifth consecutive year the heavier load has landed on homeowners.

Countywide, the total property tax levy hit $19.9 billion, a $744 million increase and the 32nd straight annual rise. Homeowners will absorb nearly $600 million of that. About 60% of taxing agencies raised their levies above the 3.1% inflation rate.

Pappas said local governments need to do more with less in precarious economic times and called on taxpayers to vote. She noted residential taxes in the north and northwest suburbs increased at more than triple the inflation rate, driven partly by tax-hike referendums approved in off-year elections by an average of one in five eligible voters.

Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi, whose office conducted the 2025 reassessment, framed the results differently. His office's reforms narrowed the gap between initial assessments and appeal outcomes: commercial properties received only a 14% value reduction on appeal in 2025, down from 20% in 2022.

"This is a promising first step, and I'm grateful to the Board of Review for working with my office to maintain the tax base and prevent large bill spikes for ordinary residents," Kaegi said in an Aug. 18 release. "But as we can see from the overall burden held by residents, there's much more that needs to be done."

Individual bills will vary by village, depending on local levy decisions and the presence of tax increment financing districts. The Treasurer's analysis does not break out village-specific medians for Winnetka, Wilmette, Kenilworth, Glencoe or Northfield.

Bills arrive Sept. 1 and are due Oct. 1. Property owners can view their bills online at cookcountytreasurer.com.