Explanation of your property tax bill

Property Tax Rates 

The City of Evanston finances about 10% of its general fund operations through property taxes and is continually striving to diversify its revenue base in order to reduce reliance on the property tax.  The City’s portion of the property tax reflects approximately 19% of the total tax bill. 

The tax rate is calculated by dividing the levy (dollar amount) requested by each taxing district by the total Equalized Assessed Value (EAV) of the district. An individual property's tax bill is then determined by multiplying the tax rate with the property's EAV. More info on EAV calculation is below.

 Below is an average composite rate per PIN within the City for tax year 2017, which was paid in 2018. 2018 rates (paid 2019) are not yet finalized by Cook County. Individual total rates may be higher or lower depending on combination of taxing districts servicing a property.

Impact of 2019 Reassessment  

Cook County properties are reassessed every three years as part of the Triennial Reassessment. The proposed assessment property owners received recently as a part of that process will be reflected in 2019 Second Installment tax bills, payable August 1, 2020.

Below are two documents with early projections of tax rates and impact on individual tax bills as a result of the reassessment. These are based on preliminary assessment values from Cook County and the assumption that levies of all taxing bodies remain flat.

 Evanston EAV and Tax Rate projections

 Impact of reassessment on sample properties