North Cook News

Property owners in Winnetka paid more than 2.2 percent of the value of their homes in taxes last year. That’s nearly two times the national average, according to an LGIS analysis of real estate sales data in Cook County’s North Shore from Jan 1. to June 30.

Local Government Information Service (LGIS) publishes North Cook News. 

Winnetka, population 12,417, recorded a median sale price of $967,500, based on data from the 128 properties sold during the first half of 2018. In 2017, homeowners paid a median property tax bill of $21,533.50, according to county tax data from the Cook County Assessor’s Office.

That’s 2.23 percent of the community’s median home value. In the U.S., the average effective property tax rate is 1.19 percent.

Put another way: a $967,500 home in Indiana, where the effective rate is 0.89 percent, would have a property tax bill of about $8,611, or more than $12,900 less per year.

The analysis, including 35 North Shore communities, shows homeowners in Kenilworth, Glencoe, Golf, Northbrook, Winnetka, Northfield, Morton, Grove, Evanston and Lincolnwood pay the highest property taxes in the region, each clocking in with effective rates between 2 and 3 percent.

Illinois homeowners pay the second-highest property taxes in the country with an effective median rate of 2.32 percent, just behind those in New Jersey (2.28 percent). 

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Top Property Rates in North Shore

The following table ranks North Shore communities by their median effective property tax rate, calculated using sales and property tax data from 2018.

City	Jan - June 2018 Sales	Jan - June 2018 Median Price	Median tax	Effective Tax Rate
Kenilworth	29	$1,020,000.00	$26,827.60	2.63%
Glencoe	85	$841,000.00	$19,639.03	2.34%
Golf	1	$700,000.00	$16,069.56	2.30%
Northbrook	278	$437,500.00	$10,001.28	2.29%
Winnetka	128	$967,500.00	$21,533.50	2.23%
Northfield	46	$447,000.00	$9,781.10	2.19%
Morton Grove	205	$295,000.00	$6,406.45	2.17%
Evanston	505	$325,000.00	$7,033.74	2.16%
Lincolnwood	82	$344,000.00	$7,325.50	2.13%
Glenview	419	$429,000.00	$7,985.80	1.86%
Skokie	450	$314,250.00	$5,790.80	1.84%
Wilmette	261	$700,000.00	$12,132.93	1.73%

Source: BlockShopper.com; Cook County Assessor’s Office

Median Sales Prices in North Shore

The following table ranks North Shore cities by the year-over-year change in median sale price, which is calculated using prices of properties sold during the first six months of 2018.

City	Jan - June 2017 Sales	Jan - June 2017 Median Price	Jan - June 2018 Sales	Jan - June 2018 Median Price	Change
Wilmette	274	$613,750	261	$700,000	14.05%
Glencoe	81	$749,000	85	$841,000	12.28%
Skokie	467	$292,000	450	$314,250	7.62%
Winnetka	140	$900,000	128	$967,500	7.50%
Glenview	446	$412,750	419	$429,000	3.94%
Morton Grove	198	$290,000	205	$295,000	1.72%
Northfield	49	$460,000	46	$447,000	-2.83%
Northbrook	356	$451,000	278	$437,500	-2.99%
Evanston	524	$336,750	505	$325,000	-3.49%
Lincolnwood	82	$365,000	82	$344,000	-5.75%
Kenilworth	38	$1,110,000	29	$1,020,000	-8.11%
Golf	4	$870,000	1	$700,000	-19.54%

Sources: Blockshopper.com; Cook County Recorder of Deeds