Property values in Cook County continue to rise in 2025 assessments

Each year, assessors nationwide issue updated valuation statements to property owners. In Cook County, Assessor Bob Thompson works with his department to issue those updates, and to compile the data to look at trends across the county.

The 2025 assessments show an average 6.2% increase in property values in Cook County.

While this year’s increase is only about half of the 2024 increase, it is part of a trend that has cumulatively meant an increase of 86% since 2019.

Last year Cook County saw a larger increase than other Arrowhead Counties. Thompson told WTIP that this year’s increase was much closer to those seen this year in Lake and St. Louis counties.

While the average increase was 6.2%, property values changed varying amounts, from some properties which decreased in value, to others that more than doubled. Thompson said that a majority of properties increased between zero and ten percent in value. He said 6,858 of the roughly 8,500 properties in the county fell into that lowest tier of increases.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, 35 properties increased in value more than 100%.

Thompson explained the reasons for such a drastic increase. Fifteen of those properties were subdivided, which contributed to the significant change. Several of the other properties were part of the Heritage Platt, along the Superior National Golf Course. Thompson said there have been recent sales of some of those parcels for $150,000-200,000, despite previously being valued in the $70,000-90,000 range.

Another category of property that saw, in some cases, a significant jump, was those with manufactured or mobile homes. Thompson said adjustments to the value of some of those homes was long overdue, having been neglected in previous years.

“So we actually went through every single mobile home record that we have in the county and individually looked at them,” he said, which accounts for some of the big changes that those property owners may see.

While the value of a property is determined by a host of factors, including improvements made and new construction, the real estate market also plays a role in determining value. Thompson said assessors monitor the market closely, and if specific kinds of properties in an area sell for amounts significantly different than their assessed values, it can impact the values of similar properties in the area.

Thompson gave the examples of both rural vacant and agricultural land, and resort style condos, as property types that have been impacted over recent years primarily by recent sales prices within those categories. Thompson said that for Forest Agriculture Recreation (FAR) zoned properties, the potential of future subdivision could be driving the high sale prices. For condos and townhomes, Thompson said he believed it was based on availability. With very few units for sale, those that have come on the market have been sold at high prices.

Those high prices have caused an increase in the valuations of many condos in the area.

Thompson said, “75 condos and townhouses fell into a 20 to 50% increase. And I know just off the top of my head, the townhomes at Caribou Highlands, some of those doubled in value. I mean, they went from 280,000 to almost $500,000.”

He added that just in the past year he has seen sale prices for those units go up more than $100,000. “Now we’re looking at sales at 500,000 and it’s like, well, you know, it’s how the market is reacting, it’s how the market is behaving. And we are always just following that.”

Thompson shared the breakdown of how many properties increased in value in each of the percentage ranges. They are listed below.

• 0-10% increase: 6,858 properties
• 10-20% increase: 725 properties
• 20-50% increase: 427 properties
• 50-100% increase: 107 properties
• Over 100% increase: 35 properties
• several hundred properties decreased in value

2025 property value assessments will be sent out in the coming weeks. Property owners may have already received their 2025 property tax statement, which reflects the 2024 valuation.

WTIP’s Kirsten Wisniewski spoke with Cook County Assessor Bob Thompson about property values in Cook County. Audio of that interview is below.

Kirsten Wisniewski April 8, 2025