Tax Appeal Evidence Packet

The answer

Your 2026 mailed assessment is $20–$25 per sq ft of building area. The median of 100–199 comparable homes is $15–$20 per sq ft, so yours is 20–25% above the median.

Case strength: Strong

Evidence for this level: 40.5% of 2025 and 40.9% of 2024 Assessor appeals were granted a reduction, and 71.1% of 2024 Board of Review appeals.

Past outcomes describe appeals like yours; they don't predict any single decision.

At the median rate your assessed value would be $40,000–$49,999, which is $10,000–$14,999 lower than the $50,000–$59,999 mailed. The Assessor values homes at 10% of market value, so that is about $100,000–$149,999 of market value. This is an estimate from the comparison, not a promised reduction.

Your property on record

A dash means the value hasn't been published yet for that year.

Your appeal deadline

File your appeal with the Cook County Assessor by 14 Oct 2026: 28 days left.

Dates as published by the Assessor and the Board of Review, checked against the published pages on 15 Sep 2026. Windows can change: confirm on the official page before filing. Appeals filed after a window closes aren't accepted.

Comparable homes

Comparable homes: same township, neighborhood and Assessor class (206), building area within 20% of yours, built within 15 years. 100–199 homes matched; the median above uses all of them. The 8 closest in size are listed, with your home first.

Recent sales of similar homes

Appeal history for this PIN

Filing it yourself

What to have ready

• Your PIN: 12-xx-xxx-xxx-xxxx.
• The value to ask for: $40,000–$49,999 assessed, from the comparison in this packet.
• The comparable homes' PINs with their building area, age and assessed value, listed above, and the recent sales.
• Photos or documents for anything the Assessor's record gets wrong, such as building area, age, bathrooms or a basement: correcting a wrong characteristic can matter more than comparables.

Your appeal statement

PIN 12-xx-xxx-xxx-xxxx is assessed for 2026 at $20–$25 per square foot of building area. The 100–199 most similar homes in the same township, neighborhood and assessment class (building area within 20% and built within 15 years of this home) are assessed at a median of $15–$20 per square foot. Applying that median to this home's building area gives an assessed value of $40,000–$49,999. I ask that the assessment be reduced to $40,000–$49,999. The comparable properties are listed with their PINs, building area, age and assessed values.

Paste or adapt this in the appeal form's explanation. Every figure in it is printed in this packet, so it can be checked.

Where to file

Appeals are filed online on each body's own website, and filing is free. The Board of Review is the next level if the Assessor doesn't reduce the assessment, and it has its own window. The screens themselves aren't reproduced here because we couldn't check the current versions; follow each website's instructions.

What a reduction could save

Your tax bill doesn't fall by the assessed reduction itself. The saving is roughly: reduction in assessed value × the state equalization factor × your local tax rate. Both the equalization factor and the tax rate are printed on your second-installment property tax bill; exemptions are applied before the rate, so check them on the same bill. With the $10,000–$14,999 reduction estimated in this packet, that is $10,000–$14,999 × equalization factor × tax rate.

What this packet doesn't cover

• Not legal representation. CivicDelta doesn't file for you or advise you whether to appeal.
• Estimates are not guaranteed reductions. Assessors and the Board of Review weigh evidence this packet doesn't see, such as condition and interior.
• The tax saving isn't calculated for you: tax rates and exemptions depend on your tax code and bill, so the formula above uses the figures printed on it.
• Appeals beyond the Board of Review (the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board or the circuit court) aren't covered.
• Characteristics are as the Assessor records them. If yours are wrong, correcting them may matter more than comparables.
• Absence of a record (an appeal, a sale) is not evidence that none exists.

Official sources and capture dates

Every figure in this document comes from these datasets as loaded on the dates shown (UTC). Values are exactly as the publisher released them; you can check each one on the publisher's own site.