policy
Chicago Locks Property Tax Assessments Through 2029, Freezing Homeowner Bills
The extension locks current assessments in place through 2029, giving Chicago residents fixed tax amounts on their annual statements unlike the annual adjustments applied in cities such as New York and Philadelphia.
How we reported this
The Chicago City Council passed an extension of the property tax assessment freeze on July 7, 2026, locking assessed values for all residential properties inside city limits and directly affecting the 1.1 million owners who receive annual tax bills from Cook County.
The measure follows the expiration of the prior three-year cap and responds to updated revenue forecasts in the city's 2026 budget papers that project slower growth in local sales tax collections.
Chicago residents will see no change in the taxable value used to calculate their bills for the next three years. A homeowner in the 35th Ward, for example, will continue to pay based on the 2023 assessment level even if market prices for similar houses rise.
Comparisons to Other Major Cities
Under the Chicago policy every residential parcel receives the same treatment regardless of purchase date, while New York applies annual reassessments that produced average increases of 4 percent last year and Philadelphia uses a tiered system that raises bills for properties sold after 2020. Houston, by comparison, resets values every two years with no multi-year cap in place.
City budget documents list the total assessed value covered by the freeze at $312 billion for tax year 2026, a figure drawn from the Cook County Assessor's 2025 annual report that covers single-family homes, two-flats and small apartment buildings inside Chicago boundaries.
The Cook County Treasurer's office will apply the unchanged assessments to the second-installment bills mailed in October 2026, with the first full cycle under the new cap running through the 2029 tax year.