Randy Temple has lived in his Logan Square two-flat since 1992, when he paid about $100,000 for it. Now, approaching 80 years old, he says his property tax bill has climbed so high that he figures he can only afford to stay in the home for another two or three years.
Temple's bill rose from $13,022 in 2024 to $27,411 in 2025, according to NBC Chicago. The jump followed a fire that destroyed his home and most of his belongings, Temple said, after which he rebuilt on the same site. Cook County then reassessed the rebuilt property at $1.67 million, and the Cook County Assessor's Office attributed the sharply higher value to the rebuild itself.
Temple said he appealed the reassessment, but the county denied it. He estimates that paying his tax bills in full now eats up 40 percent of his income, money that has to stretch around Social Security and a pension he earned over a long career at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, now known as Shirley Ryan AbilityLab. County records show he has no outstanding amount currently due, but he worries about what comes next.
A Lifetime of Memories on the Line
Among the losses in the fire, Temple has mentioned the vinyl records he'd collected over 65 years, a detail that underscores just how much of his life is tied up in the house. He said he has no idea where he would go if he had to leave, and he's uncertain who would care for him if he moved elsewhere. Temple plans to file for a senior tax exemption, though he does not believe it would provide enough financial relief to let him remain in his home long-term.
Cook County homeowners generally have options to contest their bills. Property owners can appeal assessed value through the Cook County Assessor's Office or the Cook County Board of Review, and they may qualify for exemptions covering homeowners, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities. The Cook County Assessor's Office says homeowners typically have 30 days after receiving a reassessment notice to file an appeal, with the exact deadline printed on the notice. For the senior exemption specifically, the office says most homeowners qualify if they are at least 65 and own and occupy the property as their principal residence, though that does not guarantee eligibility for every applicant.
Why Bills Are Climbing Citywide
Temple's situation reflects a broader pattern. Winifred Curran, a DePaul University professor of geography who has studied Chicago property taxes for more than two decades, told NBC Chicago that people are being actively displaced from their homes. She said increases can reach 60 percent, 90 percent, or even 120 percent every three years depending on the neighborhood, and she attributed much of the surge to declining commercial real estate values shifting the tax burden onto homeowners.
That shift shows up in county-level numbers too. A Cook County Treasurer's analysis found that business assessment appeals reduced businesses' collective tax bill by $3.3 billion in 2025 while residential bills rose by $1.9 billion, as reported by CBS News Chicago. During the county's 2021–2023 reassessment cycle, business tax bills dropped nearly 20 percent while residential bills rose more than 16 percent, according to WBEZ's reporting on a Treasurer's Office study, and more than 250,000 households saw bills jump 25 percent or more in that same span.
South and West Sides Hit Hardest
More recent figures show the pattern persisting. WBEZ's account of the Treasurer's analysis found taxes increased for more than 1.2 million homes, roughly 80 percent of all Cook County homeowners, with the 2024 reassessment shifting burden from Loop commercial properties toward homeowners elsewhere in the city. For the second installment of 2024 property taxes, North Lawndale home tax bills increased nearly $1,900, or 99 percent, per that same report.
A separate study found median homeowner bills across 15 West and South Side Chicago neighborhoods rose an average of 30 percent for the second installment of 2024 property taxes, as detailed by WTTW News. In its account of 2024 property tax bills, West Garfield Park's median bill jumped by about $2,000, or 133 percent, while Lincoln Park's rose 5.9 percent. Nearly 660,000 residential properties saw higher bills compared with fewer than 66,000 that saw decreases, according to the Cook County Treasurer's own tax bill analysis.
Rents Climbing Alongside Tax Bills
Renters aren't immune either. Property tax increases can be passed on from owners to tenants, and Chicago-area rents are up 4.5 percent from a year earlier, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics figures cited by NBC Chicago. Property tax costs can also be built directly into leases.
Curran warned that property taxes fund a major portion of city government, leaving few alternative ways to replace that revenue if it's cut. But she also cautioned that the cyclical nature of reassessments can be especially harmful to vulnerable seniors, saying displacement of elderly homeowners can carry serious negative health consequences and, in some cases, can be deadly. For Temple, the choice ahead is stark: find a way to afford staying, or face leaving a home and a neighborhood he has called his own for more than three decades.
