Cook County, IL: distress report
70,914 of the 1,864,270 properties in Cook County, IL have unpaid property tax: 3.8%, the 26th highest of 87 counties we track. Its LeadCounty Distress Index is 63 out of 100, rank 26. Source: Cook County Assessor's Office and other county offices. Refreshed weekly.
Cook County compared with the rest
| Measure | Cook County | Count | Illinois | All counties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tax delinquent | 3.8% | 70,914 | 3.2% | 3.0% |
| Foreclosure | 0.1% | 2,226 | 0.1% | 0.3% |
| Code cases | 4.9% | 91,332 | 4.9% | 1.9% |
| Inherited (12 mo) | n/a | n/a | n/a | 0.3% |
| Absentee | 23.2% | 432,894 | 21.8% | 25.3% |
| Owned 15+ yrs | 17.1% | 318,489 | 15.4% | 23.6% |
| Distress Index (0-100) | 63 | rank 26 | 63 | – |
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Summary in plain English
- 3.8% of properties are tax delinquent, against 3.0% across all counties we cover (26th of 87).
- 23.2% are owned by an absentee owner and 17.1% are owned 15 years or more.
- 2,226 properties (0.1%) are in foreclosure.
- 1.8% of properties were sold in the last 12 months.
Top ZIP codes for tax-delinquent properties
| ZIP | City | Tax delinquent |
|---|---|---|
| 60426 | Harvey | 7,003 |
| 60411 | Chicago Heights | 4,846 |
| 60628 | Chicago | 4,000 |
| 60636 | Chicago | 3,533 |
| 60472 | Robbins | 3,283 |
Other Illinois counties
How the Distress Index is built
For each county we take four distress measures from its official records: the share of properties that are tax delinquent, in foreclosure, have an open code case, or received an inheritance deed in the last 12 months. Each measure is turned into a percentile among the counties that publish it (0 is the lowest share, 100 the highest). The index is the average of the percentiles a county has.
- A county is scored only if the tax-delinquent measure and at least one more are available. A record a county's offices do not publish is left out, never counted as zero.
- Shares use all properties in the county file as the base. Absentee owners, long-held properties and sales are shown for context and are not part of the index.
- Sales are shown only where a county publishes sale dates and prices. Counties that do not (for example Texas) show n/a.
- A state's index is the average of its scored counties, weighted by number of properties.
- The index compares the counties LeadCounty covers. It is not a national ranking and not investment advice.
Edition 1. Counts come from official county records and are refreshed weekly. Full method: methodology, editorial standards, data sources.
Questions
How many properties in Cook County have unpaid property tax?
70,914 of the 1,864,270 properties in Cook County, IL, which is 3.8%. Across all counties we cover the share is 3.0%.
Where do the Cook County numbers come from?
From Cook County Assessor's Office, Cook County Clerk, Cook County Clerk - Recordings and the other offices listed on our data sources page. LeadCounty joins the records parcel by parcel and refreshes them weekly.
What is the Cook County Distress Index?
63 out of 100, rank 26 of 71 scored counties. It averages how high Cook County sits among counties on the measures its offices publish.
How we make these guides
Written by the LeadCounty editorial and data team from official county, court and state sources and our own weekly counts. We name the office behind every number, say what we cannot see, and fix mistakes when you tell us. See our editorial standards and methodology. General information, not legal or financial advice. Refreshed weekly.
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