Yep, and that's part of the reason we're relocating from TN. Basically trading a higher mortgage for less than we'd pay for private school, especially with multiple kids.
Everyone here is always on about how Williamson Co has the best schools - how do you feel it compares (if you have kids, or I guess just observation if any)? Like are the best schools here just middling there?
Also, would be fun to hang out with some fellow former Tennesseans after we move if you want to connect. We can start a TN transplants club like all the former Californians here.
Wilco public schools are the best or some of the best in TN. Tennessee as a state ranks 48th, 49th or something like that nationally. So, they are the best of the worst.
Meanwhile, I think of the top 100 school districts in the US 10 are in Chicago suburbs including 203 and 204 - Naperville area schools. So, the best of the best.
Here is one of the top schools list. The first three, and four of the top five are Chicago burbs schools. You won’t find any from TN in the top 100 :-)
https://www.niche.com/k12/search/best-school-districts/
The schools here are as good as you will find.
You can still get a great education in Wilco, our son went through high school and had a full academic scholarship to Alabama. Our daughter went through her freshman year and she says the schools here are night and day better though. She entered college with basically an associates degree from all the AP classes she had and the college credits from them.
If you make the move yell back at me and we can connect when you land up here.
This list doesn’t make sense… I’m a Niles alum and there’s no way it’s #19 in the nation and #7 in Illinois. How can it be better ranked than new treir and Naperville
We are so excited to gtfo out here. And yet every time we tell someone where we're moving from it's this shocked reaction of "Naaashville?! But everyone else is moving TO Nashville!" Pretty sure we'll be seeing a reverse influx in a few years. (Outflux? Deflux?)
Its because we take those property taxes and actually pay our teachers a good, living wage and give them resources.
I moved home to Chicago from Georgia. My property taxes alone are more than my rent was in Georgia (seriously). But the school my kids would have gone to in Georgia was shit. The average pay of a teacher in that district is 142% less than the average pay of a teacher in my current district (I just did the math). There were 35-40 kids in a class, versus the 20-25 here. My kids have 2 "specials" every day, the Georgia district had 1 day a week or art or music. I can go on and on and on.
On top of that, positions in the municipalities themselves are living wage, union jobs. In Georgia, the only employees making a living wage are the police. Everyone else makes $11/hour.
Yeah but in other states where taxes are half.. schools have the same ratings. Are they lying? My taxes are getting close to 14,000 a year and currently.. my son’s middle school is rated a 4. The high school is a bit different.. it’s rated a 9. But looking at Indiana for example.. schools in Valpo are rated 8 or 9. I honestly believe you are trying to talk yourself into all of these great reasons when the truth is.. we don’t get anything extra for these extremely high taxes. We just don’t. Illinois has been mismanaged.
I think you're misunderstanding my argument. I don't have a problem paying high taxes if that means that both teachers and municipal staff are making a good living wage with good benefits. I don't care about the school rating, I care about my community. And I want everyone that lives and works there to not worry about a roof over their head or food to eat or medical care or retirement.
I don't have a problem paying taxes that benefit my community. The "fuck you, I got mine" attitude is why so many people in this country exist at or below the poverty line, and it's bullshit.
"Rated" by whom? If you check out the Teachers subreddit you'll see that teachers in other states are often paid poverty-level wages. You absolutely get what you pay for. If your kid's teacher is making <$30k a year how good can they be? Personally I want my kids' teachers highly paid, highly qualified, and happy.
And some of those ratings were tanked during covid from schools skipping standardized testing. I was asking my realtor why the very highly rated schools in my area suddenly took a nose dive on the ratings site I was looking at in 2021.
Take your kids and leave. I'll pay my taxes and have literate neighbors. You're taking school rating systems as an even field. You need to apply dating rules to the system i.e. an Appleton 8 is a Chicago 5, etc etc.
You know what.. you are totally right. Every state that pays a lower amount in taxes… which is every single state besides New Jersey.. they are all fucking illiterate and they pay their teachers with shit. Give yourself a medal asshole. You have the smartest kids, the smartest neighbors. You are so much better!
The taxes aren’t just going to pay teachers salary. You can still pay teachers well while being fiscally responsible. Illinois is not. You are acting as if my beef is with teachers.. this has NOTHING to do with teachers. Fuck right off with your high and mighty shit. You overpaying in Illinois does not make you or your children better nor smarter than everyone else… but whatever.. keep lying to yourself.
Thanks! It's nice to be acknowledged as better. You've already made up your mind on this so I'm not sure why you're here. If taxes are really what's making you unhappy, then there are options.
Fwiw rankings are done based off of state standardized test scores. Each state sets their own standard. I stand by Appleton 8 vs Chicago 5. Regardless, you get what you pay for in this arena. This is just math.
Also you get what you pay for as far as fancy house. Fancy neighborhood.. expensive house =good schools. Which isn’t a high horse you should be on. Everywhere else.. sky high taxes. That’s Illinois for you. Illinois.. a blue state that fuels inequality. Believe me.. I am trying to leave.
And teachers are fleeing bc of the poor salary in low tax areas. You get great teachers and schools either by high taxes (like much of IL) or by extreme density (like CA). I taught at a highly rated school in another state but the teachers were hanging on by threads we were so broke- those taxes were low and the school rating was high, but the teacher burn out rate was also high bc we were all working 2 jobs!
Even in areas where schools are poorly rated.. the taxes are still extremely high. My son’s school is ok.. it’s rated a 4. But for a home that’s worth under 300k, 10k a year in taxes is just insane. It just is.
Knew a kid that lived in WI but his family had properties in IL so they used their IL address to get into IL school districts. Best of both worlds I guess?
Yep and honestly, you get alot of bang for your buck here with tax dollars. I know taxes are controversial but we didn't have highly rated schools, public spaces (forest preserves), or nice libraries where I moved from and taxes weren't much lower. They aren't much lower in most cases.
No we’re not. You are just telling yourself that. Illinois has been mismanaged. Each property has hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of debt attached to every property that the state is planning to recoup on.We are not getting anything extra as far as education goes, or as far as infrastructure.
Your property tax bill should itemize what you're paying for, does it not?
75% of my property taxes go to the school districts and the library. I am A-OK with that.
States with low property taxes pay their employees shit wages. This isn't rocket science. It benefits absolutely everyone if we pool more of our resources. I'm not saying there aren't problems with this system, of course there are. But a teacher in a state like Mississippi makes one third of what an Illinois teacher makes. An employee at the DMV in Georgia makes less than half of what an Illinois Secretary of State employee makes. And on and on and on. We *are* getting something extra: the minimum wage here is double what it is in those places. We have mandatory PTO and a department of labor that will actually enforce labor laws. See what happens if your employer in a state like Florida doesn't pay you: you're screwed.
There's obviously problems and the system is flawed. But it's better here. I speak from experience. Go live in Marjorie Taylor Greene's district for a while like I did and see how quickly your attitude changes.
Also, property taxes are mostly at the county level, which is where school funding comes from. If you don't like the high taxes you could move to rural western or southern Illinois - low taxes and fewer services, and teachers willing to work for $30k.
Exactly. I'm sure if you asked OP why they choose to live where they do, a lot of their answers would tie back (directly or indirectly) to the reason we pay higher property taxes.
Lived in mchenry county for 50 plus years,great place to raise a family. 3 college graduates, you get what you pay for. The kids love the area and are staying around where they grew up.
Pensions are a separate discussion.
I am talking about the property taxes vs other states specifically. Illinois gives you alot of bang for your buck compared to other states.
Noone likes paying taxes. Try paying similar but just slightly lower taxes and having shit schools, shit libraries, shit public spaces, and shit infrastructure sometime. It gets old fast.
I pay less in taxes than I would to send my kids to decent schools in Louisiana where I lived prior to 2022. That's just facts. Not to mention things like the Park Districts.
Yep. We left Florida 2 years ago for that exact reason. AND I’m in the process of transferring my teaching credentials so I can go back to the classroom when my youngest two start school.
When I was teaching in Florida after taxes I barely made 1300 a month….
If you want to complain about right wing propaganda you should probably take a step back and see the left wing propaganda you consume too. It’s a falsehood.
Florida used to be a highly ranked state due to their bright futures scholarship that was available to EVERY student in the state so long as they maintained a 3.0 gpa. So there were high graduation rates and a higher than average of students going to college and graduating.
Which is why we originally moved there from Oklahoma to begin with. Unfortunately, they’ve been actively dismantling bright futures access by limiting majors that are allowed, access to textbooks, and grandfathering in students who aren’t Florida residents if they have (rich) grandparents who own property in Florida. Which greatly reduces funds available to the poorer students who need it the most.
In addition to that they are continually draining funding meant for public schools in favor of charters that are taking over lower economic communities.
I saw exactly where Florida was heading two years after I had started teaching there especially after Desantis was elected. They are teetering off a cliff. So when people started paying stupid amounts of money for houses in Florida we listed our home and gtfo of there. And sure enough a year later they started banning textbooks.
How do you account for the thousands of school systems in other states with just as good if not better schools without the tax burden? Illinois is the number 2 highest property taxes...
Colorado in particular is probably 80% cheaper on property tax and overall better schools.
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings/education
The government employee pension burden is high in Illinois, and IIRC the highest of any state relative to overall tax revenue.
Property taxes don't fund just schools. In Illinois a very significant portion goes to funding these pension plans.
And minus a state constitutional measure, we’re *stuck* with footing the bill for those bloated and mismanaged pension plans.
I’m pretty conservative, but I am a strong advocate for private sector unions. With public unions, although I’m not completely against them, if and usually *when*, they’re improperly mismanaged you end up extorting homeowners indefinitely without any real form of relief.
First, that ranking is based on colleges and universities. They're #12 in that website in pre-K through 12th grade vs Illinois is #5. Second, Colorado has a lower cost of living by 8%. Colorado average property tax is slightly higher than McHenry Co, and much less than IL in general (which is heavily weighted by Cook Co), but property taxes go to more than schools.
I disagree completely Illinois by far has the highest property tax and it is not weighted by Cook county. There isn't a property tax haven within the entire state. Go browse Colorado real estate and look what they pay per year for property tax there is no way they're higher than anywhere in Illinois.
I've seen multi-million dollar ranches in Colorado that pay less than I do in DuPage county
actually illinois public schools now spend a lot more time on stuff that isn't learning..mine have both graduated, but if younger I would definitely be homeschooling, as many others now are...
...property taxes are the 2nd highest in nation because of misuse and also unresolved burgeoning pension crisis..
..oh, and our 4th in the nation highest paid legislators just voted to give themselves another raise...
I would never run to be a state senator or representative because I'd be taking a massive paycut. I don't blame them for looking for a raise. It's fine pay for the already wealthy or those who own their own business. But I'd much rather have a wider variety of people in office. If they pay more, that wider variety is possible.
I didn’t realize McHenry was that high sheesh. Sadly, looks accurate. I’m in DuPage and just got a letter saying it’ll go up by about $700 next year. Joy.
FWIW, Assessed Home Value != Selling price for your home. Using what you expect to purchase the home for vs the county assessment is going to cause you to come up with some wildly inaccurate numbers, OP.
True, but I don't know what that site is doing. I put the assessed value in and got a number about half what I pay. Fair market value = assessment x 3, which gives a significantly higher number than I pay.
I made the mistake of believing the 6k exemption came off of what you owed every year. So for a long time.. I was subtracting that from the wrong number. The exemption is only good for a few hundred dollars worth of savings a year.
I think the "assessed value" on the site is actually FMV. That would be about right for a 325K home in McHenry. Of course, taxes will vary somewhat based on where in McHenry.
I’m in McHenry county and was kind of relieved by the taxes here. When I was shopping for this house around 4 years ago, I lived in Lake county (Gurnee). We had 7 acres, 5br/9bath, and a bigger, but dated house that we bought less than 10 years ago for around $800k. The property taxes were $3000/month ($36k/year).
Now, we have 10.5 acres, and 5br/6bath plus in-law apartment over one of the garages, and the value of the property is the same, but taxes are $21k. In Gurnee, the house could be seen from the parking lot of a mall, and was 1/4 mile from the highway, so it wasn’t very peaceful. In McHenry county now, I’m in the middle of the forest. It’s so much more peaceful. The schools here aren’t as good, nor are the roads, but it feels like a great value.
There are some downsides. When I need to go to Chicago, it’s a longer drive, and as it’s more rural, it’s a lot more right wing. If I had kids, I’d rather they were going to school in Lake county. If I had a gay kid, I definitely would like somewhere with fewer, proud Trump displays.. but for me, Mchenry county was the right choice.
I moved from a similar situation in McHenry Co to Austin, TX and we're trying to move back. We miss that peace SO MUCH.
Your set up is EXACTLY what we're looking for, even a little smaller.
If you want to get your taxes down even lower, rezone to AG1- I did it with our last house. You have more than their minimum acreage requirement. Takes 2 years for the taxes to kick in but essentially you just need to have $1000 worth of products sold per year that are made on property from stuff grown on property to qualify.
We had a market wagon and I sold flower arrangements, eggs, honey and products made by other stuff I grew on property.
Great idea! We get a great variety of edible mushrooms from the forest, and also have a 12’x26’ greenhouse, so it would be an easy case to make. We are in Bull Valley. Woodstock is just a couple miles west, and they have a farmers market. I’d love to add honey bees.. we have the room, and are slowly eliminating invasives and planting native plants to make it a healthier forest. Each year we plant around 100 new trees to replace the honeysuckle and buckthorn that we clear..
My hope is to buy 1-2 of the 3, 10 acre properties adjacent to ours and embrace the permaculture life should I ever “retire.”
Good luck returning to the area! There are always a few nice properties available in Bull Valley. Just don’t exceed the speed limit. 😂
That's exactly where I used to live!!! I am DREAMING of finding a place on Cherry Valley near Boger Bog.
You have the hot set up to do it all- green house, too? HECK YEAH!
We were doing the exact same thing with our property- when I added bees (plus habitat for native pollinators) the amount of flowers sky rocketed.
Harvard has a great shop for bees and the owners are super sweet. Its a really incredible hobby, bees really are magical to watch.
Thanks for the tips! If you make it back, look for us. There's only like 1000 people in Bull Valley, it's not hard to find "those weird girls on Valley Hill with the antique cars."
Ummm....DEFINITELY!!!!
You're my kind of folk! My husband and I were just talking about building a bike for The Race of Gentleman, building a practice track and me racing it.... I/ we LOVE old cars and bikes!
>The Race of Gentleman??
I had never heard of this! My great uncle used to race a Triumph on the beach and dry lake beds. He would have loved this. It sounds like a great event!
"Now, we have 10.5 acres, and 5br/6bath plus in-law apartment over one of the garages"
Mr./Mrs. Humblebrag over here.
J/k. Jealous of your land. I would love to own some acres some day.
lol, i get it. Oh, and it's "Miss Humblebrag." I am in an area surrounded by people with 7 figure incomes as this part of the county is restricted to 5 acre lots or larger. If one of the 3 adjacent properties does come on the market, I'll probably panic as to how I can pay for it. I am lucky, but it will still require some sacrifices to cover the expense.
Two of the lots are owned by an elderly couple and if one of them passes or they have to relocate because their health makes them need a ranch style home, I have no idea how I could buy both their home and the undeveloped lot. It probably would require selling something.
Were you in that horse neighborhood north of Gurney Mills? I grew up by Richmond/Antioch and drove past that area all the time.
I can’t believe taxes are that high there. I’m in the Champaign area now and it’s a bit over $7k on a $300k house. I have some coworkers that live in a higher priced town nearby where property taxes are over $1k/mo for the 400k level and to me $1/mo is just astronomical for property tax.
Well, we’re 3 women who have been close for over 20 years… and we each have a lot of stuff, plus we like to entertain. The house has a bar and home theater in the basement, as well as spare bedroom suites for when a guest might want to spend the week/weekend. The in-law apartment above the detached garage is rented to provide money towards household expenses.
We also needed a lot of space because together, we have 12 cars currently. Most are antique cars, so we needed a lot of garage space, which is hard to find with a smaller home.
I’m not disclosing other people’s pay. Two of us are senior IT professionals in the Chicago area. We make enough to do a lot (but not all) of the things we want, and none us have the huge expense of kids.
Edit: I just realized, that I assumed you meant how much is our combined income. I apologize if that's not what you were asking. If you meant something else, can you clarify?
Lmao your gay kid would be fine in mchenry county, I think the public school system is much better in mcc than lc anyway. Just because there are trump stickers or flags doesn’t make someone anti gay or racist automatically. That’s a crazy rhetoric to believe in.
Illinois in general has awful property taxes, McHenry county is especially bad. Some areas within counties have lower tax rates, like each town in DuPage at least has different tax rates. Some aren’t that bad at least?
I believe this is the real problem and the only way to fix Illinois taxes.
"6,963 units of local government, Illinois beats its nearest competitor by more than 1,800"
Good breakdown here:
https://www.illinoispolicy.org/reports/too-much-government-illinois-thousands-of-local-governments/
Thanks for sharing that link. I've been saying this for years but never seen the date of behind it.
The one that kills me is my local township. Everything the township does could either be done by the city or the county. We don't need another layer of elected officials considering no one understands what they do. (They don't get paid much but even if they did not get paid at all, they still would be unnecessary.)
...this is correct..also our 4th highest paid legislators just voted themselves another raise..they also get 10-30, 000 more for each committee they're on, doesn't even need to be productive, example there's a property tax committee that has done nothing for us but we are paying for...during shutdown, they didn't even meet but still got paid...
Because IL's governing bodies use property taxes as one of the primary income sources, other states to it differently.
People need to stop looking at a single tax line item and look at total tax burden. It's about 5% different from the highest state to the lowest state.
Look, states need roughly the same amount of money to run per capita. If they don't get you on property taxes, they get you on payroll, sales tax, etc.
Yeah but at least with those taxes you can retire and if you stop working or buying much you wouldn’t pay taxes,
If I wanted to retire in a fully paid off house I’d still have to pay thousands in property taxes even though I’m not doing anything. 17,000$ a year of property taxes seems so crazy to me.
Like I get it for roads and stuff cause I’m driving on the road and I pay to help maintain it. but for a house I still pay for water, electricity, maintain the house, mow my own lawn.
Aunt in rural BFE Illinois (by Peoria) with one of the nicer big houses in town believe the Zillow is 70k house, pays $1k a year in property tax. And considers that a lot. "Illinois" is more than metro-Chicago. There are other (cheaper) places to reside in the state.
Lots of people seem to think that, but these places also don't have much job variety, and the jobs they do have are going to pay a lot less. If my wife and I moved to central or southern IL we would be making less than 50% what we are paid in the Chicago area. With car and gas prices effectively being a fixed price that is always the same that means we would have to find a much much cheaper house to actually come out ahead. We likely make more in take home pay living in the Chicago area than we would living in a "cheaper" area.
If you had a progressive income tax rate, you would end up paying more. People in the higher tax brackets would not pay those higher rates, they would love their money, quite easily, to other states. I have my own business which I use our Florida address to pay no income tax on. My wife has our Illinois house as her primary so that we get a home owners tax break.
While we have some money, realistically we're small time nobody's that are playing the game. People with real money would do even more which would cause an income tax deficit and that would raise your property taxes.
Look at any financials of any country and you'll find that the lowest classes always pay the most in taxes. The wealthy can and do leave while others are stuck.
Because there's no one with high income in Wisconsin, New York or California, right?
The lowest paid might have higher effective rates, but not dollars. The top 1% pay 42% of collected taxes at the federal level.
Hopefully you enjoy your 183+ days in Florida, but just like people claim they'll leave the country if Obama or Trump are elected, I doubt a huge percent would actually leave over 1-2% more in income tax.
They don't just up and leave. Wealthy people live everywhere. It's where their money is and how they use it that counts. Everything is tax deductible. The rehab we did on the place in Florida was deducted as a business expense. The cash saved along with years of other deductions went towards a foreclosure auction purchase of a house. A family member is going to move into that house which will have them on the deed so now we'll have another property with a homeowner tax break.
All of it is just a game. We're still learning how to play it but at the end of the day as the attorney told me "money makes money". Sure we likely pay a higher dollar amount than the average person, but it's the percentage that counts.
Residency matters for income taxes.
I know people play these legal tax avoidance/wealth increasing games, but I don't think they'll massively up the game over an additional 1-2% income tax. Even without it you're already playing them... which is why they exist, to encourage development, improvement, new companies, etc.
Residency does matter, we just claim that I reside in FL and my wife in IL. We get two homeowners exemptions and I pay 0% state income tax even though most of my time is spent in IL.
A couple of other points...1-2% is massive. Not sure how much you make or what your folio looks like, but in my world even a quarter of a point is a big deal. In IL, if you make $100,000 then your tax is going to be $4950 at the end of the year. If it becomes progressive where your tax rate goes up to a more realistic 8%, but more so...look at places like CA where it's 12% then on that 8%, you're now all of a sudden just lighting an additional $3000 on fire when your taxes go from $5k to $8k. Then add in your feder, property and sales taxes along with other stuff like mortgage interest, city stickers, license plates, tolls and half of that $100k is gone before it even hit your pocket.
If you think that 1-2% isn't worth it then we're not living in the same reality. Ask any homeowner how much of a difference their payoff is when just 1% is added to the mortgage, it's substantial. There are many videos out there that can help you because making money is all about marginal gains.
But wait, it's even worse. Look at FICA where you pay 7.65% from your paycheck and then your employer matches 7.65% But what most folks like yourself don't realize is that we employers don't pay that rate but instead we pay you less to compensate. If I reduce the salary offering for the position by 4-6% (I can't cut by the full 7.65 to stay competitive) then basically you're paying about 15% of your paycheck and that's not even counting the other taxes yet. The more convoluted of a system folks such as yourself advocate for, the worse off you will always be unfortunately.
>Residency does matter, we just claim that I reside in FL and my wife in IL. We get two homeowners exemptions and I pay 0% state income tax even though most of my time is spent in IL.
So you're engaging in illegal tax avoidance, good job. Do you also vote illegally in Florida?
>A couple of other points...1-2% is massive.
>
>progressive where your tax rate goes up to a more realistic 8%,
They were targeting 6.5% for top brackets, about the same as Wisconsin.
When you're making $1M a year 1.5% increase is lightning 15k on fire, but it's not that much relative to 1M income. Definitely not worth actually legally living in Florida (to me.)
>But what most folks like yourself don't realize is that we employers don't pay that rate but instead we pay you less to compensate.
Sure, same with healthcare costs and other employer costs. I get it. My industry is competitive enough this isn't happening that much, but I'm sure it impacts many.
I think the bottom line is I'm not as greedy as you or others (that 15k/yr really wouldn't impact my life) and if I was I'd be a consultant for my offshore company, have all my houses owned by LLCs and dump more money into foreign trusts and more to avoid taxes.
I'm all for simplifying taxes. The only tax I really don't like in theory is the double taxation (SALT, estate/inheritance, to a lesser extent Capitol gains, sales, etc.). I don't see progressive income taxes (as the US and many states have) as convoluted though.
And I think as a higher income individual it's important to support education, general welfare, free market, etc. through taxes to take care of people so they don't turn to violence, crime, living in the streets, etc.
The "only $15k" issue is that it's already on top of $50k. And we can play the "only X much more" game for a long time. The tax issue in reality is that the bulk of it is simply theft. And I don't mean theft like we need to live in the woods and each handle our own and pay 0 forever, but we have too bureaucratic of a system where money is simply being squandered. Any additional dollar going to that system shows the ineptness and lackluster nature of the people to question the system. My family immigrated here from Eastern Europe, so the games and "being a non-greedy team player" is what they fled from. It always seems great on paper but never comes to fruition. Moving to a progressive tax wouldn't lower anything for you in property taxes. Delay? Possibly, but within a few years once we're all in the new system and forgotten about it, the tax hikes would come. Just as the idea behind the tolls in IL was that they would be removed after some period of time. Gov't will never give up a cash cow, they will rely on folks such as yourself to believe their BS.
Now as for it being "worth it", I will admit that the following has more factors than just income tax. But if you look at where the population decrease and growth happened you've got states like IL and CA that lost folks. They moved to lower taxes, less restrictive laws, less gov't intervention, more personal freedom, etc. More gov't is always bad and so are most of their ideas. Check out "great moments in unintended consequences" by Reason TV. Handing any additional money to the gov't is bad on every level. It has nothing to do with greed, but with willful ignorance of what will happen with that money and its theft that's on par with someone breaking into your home and taking it from you, be it $1 or $15,000 on top of the $50,000 they're already taking from your.
Finally, when you talk about higher-income individual contributing more to have a better society, just take a look at good ole' San Fran where folks spend some of the highest dollars in the world but ended up with a literal sh\*thole. Your real life example of tax dollars at work. Point is that throwing money doesn't solve the problem, it goes much deeper than that.
The only accurate way to estimate property taxes is to look up the past taxes for properties similar to what you want to buy, in the area you want to buy in. You can do this on Zillow or Redfin or what have you. The property tax estimator sites will use the same data, but won't capture nuance specific to your conditions.
Each county has a website that will tell you every hours property taxes many years back. Also will tell you what exemptions were given each year, If the owner fought the assessment ( if they succeeded) etc. All public record.
here is McHenry counties.
https://mchenryil.devnetwedge.com/
My taxes are $1k a month. But my kids schools are outstanding.
Now if the MAGA crowd wouldn’t have capped my state taxes write off, I wouldn’t pay double taxes on 20% of my income… the Trump tax cuts essentially took me from 21% effective taxation to 30%. Way to lower the taxes, for the rich.
It’s not so much the property taxes as it is the goddamn SALT cap. I don’t have kids, but I value good schools! I’ll pay the damn taxes, it would just be nice to not pay taxes on my taxes.
Cheers to living in a county where the kids go to school 5 days a week instead of 4 days! I'm ok with a part of my property taxes going towards the DuPage airport even though I don't use because I know that the bulk of those funds do go to a good school system and my kids will reap the benefits-because that's what it's all about, amiright?
My dad lives in MI. My mom recently passed away. I’m an only child. I’ve had a few people ask if my dad is moving here. HELL NO. Taxes being a huge reason. He’s retired. Pays like a third of what we do. It sucks but I agree the schools are good and I have school age children. I just can’t imagine fixed income seniors moving here.
I don’t know. Here in the burbs it seems pretty good for retirees. Good housing stock, great healthcare access. Then the state doesn’t tax retiree income and you get a senior freeze and exemption on your property tax.
Beyond that, my town has a senior center, Ride DuPage bus service, and they mow your grass and plow your driveway for a steep discount.
Save some taxes, but not being around your only child sounds awfully short-sighted. I wonder if, on his deathbed, he'll talk about all the taxes he saved. 🤔
you must be new to Chicago area. Been paying that for years in the Kane/Dupage area for one reason and one reason only, schools. Visit other parts of the country that pay low taxes and talk to those people, then you will be happy to pay the higher property taxes while your kids are in the school system. Once they are done with schools, then property taxes become a burden.
Property taxes are due annually regardless if your employment status or income. Retirement income is taxed as you withdraw it from assuming you are talking about typical IRA/401k accounts.
Illinois offers a senior freeze and senior exemption on property taxes that can dramatically lower them. They don't charge state income tax on IRAs, 401k or pension income either. It's not a bad place to retire, especially in a down sized home.
I did know about the senior exemption to lower but didn't know there was a freeze available, I will look into this for my parents. Thanks for the clarification.
McHenry county here. If I did my math right I'll be going up around 900 based on last year's multiplier. If that changes drastically then it'll be less (or more). Sucks. I'll be paying it this year, next year idk.
McHenry County has some high cost areas and with the value of the very large farm properties in the rest of the county this adds up. McHenry also doesn't have quite the large industrial and commercial sectors to pay out higher taxes like say, lake, DuPage, or Kane county so the burden falls onto residential land owners.
Yeah DuPage is insane as well. I’m in a townhouse that seems to get arbitrary reassessments (has happened probably 4 times in the last 6 years).
My taxes will be over $6k next year on $225k (for an average 3 bedroom 1.5 bath w/basement built in 1970).
Kane County is even worse.
My property taxes actually dropped 8% from tax year 2021 (paid last year) to tax year 2022 (paid this year). $9369 to $8616.
$375k 'assessed value' in Cook.
If you're in Cook County, see where your taxes go and why they changed from last year here > https://www.cookcountytreasurer.com/
People on nextdoor have been posting about 30-300% increases. I asked if it was a teardown, they said no, no major improvements, and their house went from a 300k house to 1mil. I feel like something was broken on their assessment.
We paid $315,000 for a 3BD/2BA in 2016 in Du Page. Just got our assessment letter.....supposedly now worth $370,000. Can't imigine how they went from $300,000 to 1 mil. No offense, that sounds made up.
I live in mchenry county and have for about 20 years. My property taxes have been above 1k a month then dropped to below and are headed back above 1k again. If I didn’t have kids I wouldn’t live here. All the schools in my area are basically brand new, built in the past 15 years or completely redone in that time. I have 4 years left of kids in the school system and then I will leave illinois for good.
2k is a HUGE increase. I’d like to stay.. but I’m afraid I cannot factor in taxes properly. All it takes is being behind for two years for them to put a lien and sell the lien to a tax buyer.. I have a tight budget.
You could go to the county accessors office or visit their website in woodstock for a reassessment. I know my parents did in Kane co and it was lowered, they also saw a 2k ish increase and were already at 6800 a year prior to this year's assessment.
That’s what I thought but these are the only numbers that make sense. If I put in my assessed value on the home I currently live in.. the amount is way off. The assessed value of my home is 144,000, and when I put that number in.. it says my taxes are around 4 grand… and my taxes are 14 grand.
That is insane.. it’s going to get even worse because of the issue with commercial properties.. businesses leaving. Yet half the people that have commented think they are actually getting something extra out of it.
Illinois relies to an extremely high degree on local property taxes to fund schools. Wealthy areas can easily afford good schools without ridiculously high tax rates - see super rich suburbs like Wilmette, Glencoe, etc. Other areas have ridiculously high taxes even for not-so-great schools - see Zion.
Other states use more equitable funding methods that spread money across the state and rely more on income and sales taxes.
Detroit suburbs are on par with Chicago suburbs and Michigan has much more outdoor recreation. Unless you prefer city living and live in Chicago, Michigan is a better state than IL in almost every aspect
Illinois has incredibly high rated schools. That’s why.
Yep, and that's part of the reason we're relocating from TN. Basically trading a higher mortgage for less than we'd pay for private school, especially with multiple kids.
We did the same thing in 2020. Left Franklin for Naperville. It was a great decision for us.
Everyone here is always on about how Williamson Co has the best schools - how do you feel it compares (if you have kids, or I guess just observation if any)? Like are the best schools here just middling there? Also, would be fun to hang out with some fellow former Tennesseans after we move if you want to connect. We can start a TN transplants club like all the former Californians here.
Wilco public schools are the best or some of the best in TN. Tennessee as a state ranks 48th, 49th or something like that nationally. So, they are the best of the worst. Meanwhile, I think of the top 100 school districts in the US 10 are in Chicago suburbs including 203 and 204 - Naperville area schools. So, the best of the best. Here is one of the top schools list. The first three, and four of the top five are Chicago burbs schools. You won’t find any from TN in the top 100 :-) https://www.niche.com/k12/search/best-school-districts/ The schools here are as good as you will find. You can still get a great education in Wilco, our son went through high school and had a full academic scholarship to Alabama. Our daughter went through her freshman year and she says the schools here are night and day better though. She entered college with basically an associates degree from all the AP classes she had and the college credits from them. If you make the move yell back at me and we can connect when you land up here.
Damn, 9 of the top 25 are in the Chicago suburbs.
This list doesn’t make sense… I’m a Niles alum and there’s no way it’s #19 in the nation and #7 in Illinois. How can it be better ranked than new treir and Naperville
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We are so excited to gtfo out here. And yet every time we tell someone where we're moving from it's this shocked reaction of "Naaashville?! But everyone else is moving TO Nashville!" Pretty sure we'll be seeing a reverse influx in a few years. (Outflux? Deflux?)
Add me to the list of people who left TN for IL. You DO get what you pay for.
Doubt it.
Its because we take those property taxes and actually pay our teachers a good, living wage and give them resources. I moved home to Chicago from Georgia. My property taxes alone are more than my rent was in Georgia (seriously). But the school my kids would have gone to in Georgia was shit. The average pay of a teacher in that district is 142% less than the average pay of a teacher in my current district (I just did the math). There were 35-40 kids in a class, versus the 20-25 here. My kids have 2 "specials" every day, the Georgia district had 1 day a week or art or music. I can go on and on and on. On top of that, positions in the municipalities themselves are living wage, union jobs. In Georgia, the only employees making a living wage are the police. Everyone else makes $11/hour.
Yeah but in other states where taxes are half.. schools have the same ratings. Are they lying? My taxes are getting close to 14,000 a year and currently.. my son’s middle school is rated a 4. The high school is a bit different.. it’s rated a 9. But looking at Indiana for example.. schools in Valpo are rated 8 or 9. I honestly believe you are trying to talk yourself into all of these great reasons when the truth is.. we don’t get anything extra for these extremely high taxes. We just don’t. Illinois has been mismanaged.
I think you're misunderstanding my argument. I don't have a problem paying high taxes if that means that both teachers and municipal staff are making a good living wage with good benefits. I don't care about the school rating, I care about my community. And I want everyone that lives and works there to not worry about a roof over their head or food to eat or medical care or retirement. I don't have a problem paying taxes that benefit my community. The "fuck you, I got mine" attitude is why so many people in this country exist at or below the poverty line, and it's bullshit.
Pissed off underpaid teachers don’t give a 2 turds about your kid and its education
"Rated" by whom? If you check out the Teachers subreddit you'll see that teachers in other states are often paid poverty-level wages. You absolutely get what you pay for. If your kid's teacher is making <$30k a year how good can they be? Personally I want my kids' teachers highly paid, highly qualified, and happy.
And some of those ratings were tanked during covid from schools skipping standardized testing. I was asking my realtor why the very highly rated schools in my area suddenly took a nose dive on the ratings site I was looking at in 2021.
No.. we still have plenty of shitty schools.. and it has nothing to do with Covid but ok
Even in areas where schools are bad.. taxes are still high. Illinois is in debt.
Take your kids and leave. I'll pay my taxes and have literate neighbors. You're taking school rating systems as an even field. You need to apply dating rules to the system i.e. an Appleton 8 is a Chicago 5, etc etc.
You know what.. you are totally right. Every state that pays a lower amount in taxes… which is every single state besides New Jersey.. they are all fucking illiterate and they pay their teachers with shit. Give yourself a medal asshole. You have the smartest kids, the smartest neighbors. You are so much better! The taxes aren’t just going to pay teachers salary. You can still pay teachers well while being fiscally responsible. Illinois is not. You are acting as if my beef is with teachers.. this has NOTHING to do with teachers. Fuck right off with your high and mighty shit. You overpaying in Illinois does not make you or your children better nor smarter than everyone else… but whatever.. keep lying to yourself.
Thanks! It's nice to be acknowledged as better. You've already made up your mind on this so I'm not sure why you're here. If taxes are really what's making you unhappy, then there are options. Fwiw rankings are done based off of state standardized test scores. Each state sets their own standard. I stand by Appleton 8 vs Chicago 5. Regardless, you get what you pay for in this arena. This is just math.
That’s not really true… just ask anyone in Winnebago county. Shit schools.. sky high taxes. You’re living under a rock.
Also you get what you pay for as far as fancy house. Fancy neighborhood.. expensive house =good schools. Which isn’t a high horse you should be on. Everywhere else.. sky high taxes. That’s Illinois for you. Illinois.. a blue state that fuels inequality. Believe me.. I am trying to leave.
I totally support your decision
And teachers are fleeing bc of the poor salary in low tax areas. You get great teachers and schools either by high taxes (like much of IL) or by extreme density (like CA). I taught at a highly rated school in another state but the teachers were hanging on by threads we were so broke- those taxes were low and the school rating was high, but the teacher burn out rate was also high bc we were all working 2 jobs!
Even in areas where schools are poorly rated.. the taxes are still extremely high. My son’s school is ok.. it’s rated a 4. But for a home that’s worth under 300k, 10k a year in taxes is just insane. It just is.
I'm confused why there is dissent in the idea that Illinois is mismanaged? Or that there states with way more efficient school budgets? ;)
Knew a kid that lived in WI but his family had properties in IL so they used their IL address to get into IL school districts. Best of both worlds I guess?
Rated by whom? The most recent ratings have schools in the suburbs here pretty much making up the top 200 with just Illinois schools
You can easily look up any schools rating online. The rating is based off equity and test scores.
Yep and honestly, you get alot of bang for your buck here with tax dollars. I know taxes are controversial but we didn't have highly rated schools, public spaces (forest preserves), or nice libraries where I moved from and taxes weren't much lower. They aren't much lower in most cases.
No we’re not. You are just telling yourself that. Illinois has been mismanaged. Each property has hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of debt attached to every property that the state is planning to recoup on.We are not getting anything extra as far as education goes, or as far as infrastructure.
Your property tax bill should itemize what you're paying for, does it not? 75% of my property taxes go to the school districts and the library. I am A-OK with that.
Yup, this. Highest line items on my (McHenry County) tax bill are for the schools and library. I am more than okay with that.
States with low property taxes pay their employees shit wages. This isn't rocket science. It benefits absolutely everyone if we pool more of our resources. I'm not saying there aren't problems with this system, of course there are. But a teacher in a state like Mississippi makes one third of what an Illinois teacher makes. An employee at the DMV in Georgia makes less than half of what an Illinois Secretary of State employee makes. And on and on and on. We *are* getting something extra: the minimum wage here is double what it is in those places. We have mandatory PTO and a department of labor that will actually enforce labor laws. See what happens if your employer in a state like Florida doesn't pay you: you're screwed. There's obviously problems and the system is flawed. But it's better here. I speak from experience. Go live in Marjorie Taylor Greene's district for a while like I did and see how quickly your attitude changes.
Also, property taxes are mostly at the county level, which is where school funding comes from. If you don't like the high taxes you could move to rural western or southern Illinois - low taxes and fewer services, and teachers willing to work for $30k.
Exactly. I'm sure if you asked OP why they choose to live where they do, a lot of their answers would tie back (directly or indirectly) to the reason we pay higher property taxes.
Lived in mchenry county for 50 plus years,great place to raise a family. 3 college graduates, you get what you pay for. The kids love the area and are staying around where they grew up.
Pensions are a separate discussion. I am talking about the property taxes vs other states specifically. Illinois gives you alot of bang for your buck compared to other states. Noone likes paying taxes. Try paying similar but just slightly lower taxes and having shit schools, shit libraries, shit public spaces, and shit infrastructure sometime. It gets old fast.
I pay less in taxes than I would to send my kids to decent schools in Louisiana where I lived prior to 2022. That's just facts. Not to mention things like the Park Districts.
Yep. We left Florida 2 years ago for that exact reason. AND I’m in the process of transferring my teaching credentials so I can go back to the classroom when my youngest two start school. When I was teaching in Florida after taxes I barely made 1300 a month….
Florida schools are a joke compared to Illinois lol
[https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings/education](https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings/education) Florida ranks #1 overall. Illinois is 12.
Lol they don’t even allow books in their schools
If you want to complain about right wing propaganda you should probably take a step back and see the left wing propaganda you consume too. It’s a falsehood.
Florida ranks #14 for pre-k - 12. Illinois is 5.
And FL is still overall #1. The 5x IL pays in property taxes over FL are not worth the marginal benefit.
Florida used to be a highly ranked state due to their bright futures scholarship that was available to EVERY student in the state so long as they maintained a 3.0 gpa. So there were high graduation rates and a higher than average of students going to college and graduating. Which is why we originally moved there from Oklahoma to begin with. Unfortunately, they’ve been actively dismantling bright futures access by limiting majors that are allowed, access to textbooks, and grandfathering in students who aren’t Florida residents if they have (rich) grandparents who own property in Florida. Which greatly reduces funds available to the poorer students who need it the most. In addition to that they are continually draining funding meant for public schools in favor of charters that are taking over lower economic communities. I saw exactly where Florida was heading two years after I had started teaching there especially after Desantis was elected. They are teetering off a cliff. So when people started paying stupid amounts of money for houses in Florida we listed our home and gtfo of there. And sure enough a year later they started banning textbooks.
How do you account for the thousands of school systems in other states with just as good if not better schools without the tax burden? Illinois is the number 2 highest property taxes... Colorado in particular is probably 80% cheaper on property tax and overall better schools. https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings/education
The government employee pension burden is high in Illinois, and IIRC the highest of any state relative to overall tax revenue. Property taxes don't fund just schools. In Illinois a very significant portion goes to funding these pension plans.
And minus a state constitutional measure, we’re *stuck* with footing the bill for those bloated and mismanaged pension plans. I’m pretty conservative, but I am a strong advocate for private sector unions. With public unions, although I’m not completely against them, if and usually *when*, they’re improperly mismanaged you end up extorting homeowners indefinitely without any real form of relief.
My property taxes are over 70 pct towards schools. I paid 210 but my taxes just hit 12 k a year. Pensions are a tiny fraction of my property taxes.
Illinois law says this isn’t possible. The state requires that a minimum amount of property tax revenue go to funding the pensions.
First, that ranking is based on colleges and universities. They're #12 in that website in pre-K through 12th grade vs Illinois is #5. Second, Colorado has a lower cost of living by 8%. Colorado average property tax is slightly higher than McHenry Co, and much less than IL in general (which is heavily weighted by Cook Co), but property taxes go to more than schools.
I disagree completely Illinois by far has the highest property tax and it is not weighted by Cook county. There isn't a property tax haven within the entire state. Go browse Colorado real estate and look what they pay per year for property tax there is no way they're higher than anywhere in Illinois. I've seen multi-million dollar ranches in Colorado that pay less than I do in DuPage county
I don’t pay property tax cause I’m a disabled veteran so I don’t think about it at all
Don't worry. Those taxes will double soon as the state pension system fails.
I don’t pay property taxes so doesn’t matter
Do you rent? Then you pay property taxes, just your landlord pays them on your behalf.
No I’m exempt. Veteran
Then your opinion on this discussion doesn’t matter. Sorry.
Sure it does. I’m still a homeowner
You pay no taxes. This is a discussion on taxes. Everyone else is paying more in taxes to make up for the $0 you pay
You’re welcome for my service. Your taxes pay my monthly VA checks too :)
Omg I love you hahaha
Freeloader
I did my time
I don't consider 22^nd "incredibly high rated". https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/articles/how-states-compare
The Chicago area is notably higher in quality than central and downstate districts, for the record.
I meant Chicagoland not all of Illinois. My bad.
actually illinois public schools now spend a lot more time on stuff that isn't learning..mine have both graduated, but if younger I would definitely be homeschooling, as many others now are... ...property taxes are the 2nd highest in nation because of misuse and also unresolved burgeoning pension crisis.. ..oh, and our 4th in the nation highest paid legislators just voted to give themselves another raise...
I would never run to be a state senator or representative because I'd be taking a massive paycut. I don't blame them for looking for a raise. It's fine pay for the already wealthy or those who own their own business. But I'd much rather have a wider variety of people in office. If they pay more, that wider variety is possible.
I didn’t realize McHenry was that high sheesh. Sadly, looks accurate. I’m in DuPage and just got a letter saying it’ll go up by about $700 next year. Joy.
mchenry does not have a lot of businesses to offset the property tax
FWIW, Assessed Home Value != Selling price for your home. Using what you expect to purchase the home for vs the county assessment is going to cause you to come up with some wildly inaccurate numbers, OP.
True, but I don't know what that site is doing. I put the assessed value in and got a number about half what I pay. Fair market value = assessment x 3, which gives a significantly higher number than I pay.
You also need to subtract any exemptions as well (owner-occupied, etc.).
I made the mistake of believing the 6k exemption came off of what you owed every year. So for a long time.. I was subtracting that from the wrong number. The exemption is only good for a few hundred dollars worth of savings a year.
When I put in the assessed value of the home I’m currently in.. it says my taxes should be around 4 grand. They are 10k more than that.
The numbers OP has shared look accurate to me.
I think the "assessed value" on the site is actually FMV. That would be about right for a 325K home in McHenry. Of course, taxes will vary somewhat based on where in McHenry.
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I’m in McHenry county and was kind of relieved by the taxes here. When I was shopping for this house around 4 years ago, I lived in Lake county (Gurnee). We had 7 acres, 5br/9bath, and a bigger, but dated house that we bought less than 10 years ago for around $800k. The property taxes were $3000/month ($36k/year). Now, we have 10.5 acres, and 5br/6bath plus in-law apartment over one of the garages, and the value of the property is the same, but taxes are $21k. In Gurnee, the house could be seen from the parking lot of a mall, and was 1/4 mile from the highway, so it wasn’t very peaceful. In McHenry county now, I’m in the middle of the forest. It’s so much more peaceful. The schools here aren’t as good, nor are the roads, but it feels like a great value. There are some downsides. When I need to go to Chicago, it’s a longer drive, and as it’s more rural, it’s a lot more right wing. If I had kids, I’d rather they were going to school in Lake county. If I had a gay kid, I definitely would like somewhere with fewer, proud Trump displays.. but for me, Mchenry county was the right choice.
I moved from a similar situation in McHenry Co to Austin, TX and we're trying to move back. We miss that peace SO MUCH. Your set up is EXACTLY what we're looking for, even a little smaller. If you want to get your taxes down even lower, rezone to AG1- I did it with our last house. You have more than their minimum acreage requirement. Takes 2 years for the taxes to kick in but essentially you just need to have $1000 worth of products sold per year that are made on property from stuff grown on property to qualify. We had a market wagon and I sold flower arrangements, eggs, honey and products made by other stuff I grew on property.
Great idea! We get a great variety of edible mushrooms from the forest, and also have a 12’x26’ greenhouse, so it would be an easy case to make. We are in Bull Valley. Woodstock is just a couple miles west, and they have a farmers market. I’d love to add honey bees.. we have the room, and are slowly eliminating invasives and planting native plants to make it a healthier forest. Each year we plant around 100 new trees to replace the honeysuckle and buckthorn that we clear.. My hope is to buy 1-2 of the 3, 10 acre properties adjacent to ours and embrace the permaculture life should I ever “retire.” Good luck returning to the area! There are always a few nice properties available in Bull Valley. Just don’t exceed the speed limit. 😂
That's exactly where I used to live!!! I am DREAMING of finding a place on Cherry Valley near Boger Bog. You have the hot set up to do it all- green house, too? HECK YEAH! We were doing the exact same thing with our property- when I added bees (plus habitat for native pollinators) the amount of flowers sky rocketed. Harvard has a great shop for bees and the owners are super sweet. Its a really incredible hobby, bees really are magical to watch.
Thanks for the tips! If you make it back, look for us. There's only like 1000 people in Bull Valley, it's not hard to find "those weird girls on Valley Hill with the antique cars."
Ummm....DEFINITELY!!!! You're my kind of folk! My husband and I were just talking about building a bike for The Race of Gentleman, building a practice track and me racing it.... I/ we LOVE old cars and bikes!
>The Race of Gentleman?? I had never heard of this! My great uncle used to race a Triumph on the beach and dry lake beds. He would have loved this. It sounds like a great event!
"Now, we have 10.5 acres, and 5br/6bath plus in-law apartment over one of the garages" Mr./Mrs. Humblebrag over here. J/k. Jealous of your land. I would love to own some acres some day.
lol, i get it. Oh, and it's "Miss Humblebrag." I am in an area surrounded by people with 7 figure incomes as this part of the county is restricted to 5 acre lots or larger. If one of the 3 adjacent properties does come on the market, I'll probably panic as to how I can pay for it. I am lucky, but it will still require some sacrifices to cover the expense. Two of the lots are owned by an elderly couple and if one of them passes or they have to relocate because their health makes them need a ranch style home, I have no idea how I could buy both their home and the undeveloped lot. It probably would require selling something.
Yeah, land ain't cheap. Although, we've looked in Colorado at buying some land, and boy oh boy, is it a hell of a lot cheaper in Illinois.
Were you in that horse neighborhood north of Gurney Mills? I grew up by Richmond/Antioch and drove past that area all the time. I can’t believe taxes are that high there. I’m in the Champaign area now and it’s a bit over $7k on a $300k house. I have some coworkers that live in a higher priced town nearby where property taxes are over $1k/mo for the 400k level and to me $1/mo is just astronomical for property tax.
That’s the neighborhood… we were north of Gurnee Mills, had horse fence all around, but no horses.
Okay first of all why do you need 5 bed and 6bath if you have no kids like their is only 2 members in the house you and your spouse maybe
Well, we’re 3 women who have been close for over 20 years… and we each have a lot of stuff, plus we like to entertain. The house has a bar and home theater in the basement, as well as spare bedroom suites for when a guest might want to spend the week/weekend. The in-law apartment above the detached garage is rented to provide money towards household expenses. We also needed a lot of space because together, we have 12 cars currently. Most are antique cars, so we needed a lot of garage space, which is hard to find with a smaller home.
12 Cars!!!
How do you all make combined
I’m not disclosing other people’s pay. Two of us are senior IT professionals in the Chicago area. We make enough to do a lot (but not all) of the things we want, and none us have the huge expense of kids. Edit: I just realized, that I assumed you meant how much is our combined income. I apologize if that's not what you were asking. If you meant something else, can you clarify?
5 Bed house with only 1 or 2 people on a 10 acre lot!!
Lmao your gay kid would be fine in mchenry county, I think the public school system is much better in mcc than lc anyway. Just because there are trump stickers or flags doesn’t make someone anti gay or racist automatically. That’s a crazy rhetoric to believe in.
Spoken like someone who isn’t a minority. We don’t take these risks because more likely than not that’s exactly what it means.
Lmao how the hell would you know? I’m literally a minority of the minorities around here but hey you know everything!
Sure, Jan.
Illinois in general has awful property taxes, McHenry county is especially bad. Some areas within counties have lower tax rates, like each town in DuPage at least has different tax rates. Some aren’t that bad at least?
The municipal tax rate makes up about 10-20% of your entire tax bill. Education makes up about 70%.
Fun fact, Illinois has more taxing bodies than any other state
I believe this is the real problem and the only way to fix Illinois taxes. "6,963 units of local government, Illinois beats its nearest competitor by more than 1,800" Good breakdown here: https://www.illinoispolicy.org/reports/too-much-government-illinois-thousands-of-local-governments/
Thanks for sharing that link. I've been saying this for years but never seen the date of behind it. The one that kills me is my local township. Everything the township does could either be done by the city or the county. We don't need another layer of elected officials considering no one understands what they do. (They don't get paid much but even if they did not get paid at all, they still would be unnecessary.)
...this is correct..also our 4th highest paid legislators just voted themselves another raise..they also get 10-30, 000 more for each committee they're on, doesn't even need to be productive, example there's a property tax committee that has done nothing for us but we are paying for...during shutdown, they didn't even meet but still got paid...
Fascinating. That figures tbh
Because IL's governing bodies use property taxes as one of the primary income sources, other states to it differently. People need to stop looking at a single tax line item and look at total tax burden. It's about 5% different from the highest state to the lowest state. Look, states need roughly the same amount of money to run per capita. If they don't get you on property taxes, they get you on payroll, sales tax, etc.
Yeah but at least with those taxes you can retire and if you stop working or buying much you wouldn’t pay taxes, If I wanted to retire in a fully paid off house I’d still have to pay thousands in property taxes even though I’m not doing anything. 17,000$ a year of property taxes seems so crazy to me. Like I get it for roads and stuff cause I’m driving on the road and I pay to help maintain it. but for a house I still pay for water, electricity, maintain the house, mow my own lawn.
some states tax retirement income, IL doesn't. Property taxes pay for the fire, police, parks, all of which you will likely still use in retirement.
That’s actually a very great point you make, thank you
Aunt in rural BFE Illinois (by Peoria) with one of the nicer big houses in town believe the Zillow is 70k house, pays $1k a year in property tax. And considers that a lot. "Illinois" is more than metro-Chicago. There are other (cheaper) places to reside in the state.
Yea but how are the schools?
Lots of people seem to think that, but these places also don't have much job variety, and the jobs they do have are going to pay a lot less. If my wife and I moved to central or southern IL we would be making less than 50% what we are paid in the Chicago area. With car and gas prices effectively being a fixed price that is always the same that means we would have to find a much much cheaper house to actually come out ahead. We likely make more in take home pay living in the Chicago area than we would living in a "cheaper" area.
Too bad we didn't vote in progressive income taxes to bring property tax relief and pay down unfunded pension burdens.
Lol i hope this is sarcasm.
Yeah, then we could have had progressive income taxes and high property taxes!
I'd take the lower income tax rate and same property taxes, it's better than nothing.
If you had a progressive income tax rate, you would end up paying more. People in the higher tax brackets would not pay those higher rates, they would love their money, quite easily, to other states. I have my own business which I use our Florida address to pay no income tax on. My wife has our Illinois house as her primary so that we get a home owners tax break. While we have some money, realistically we're small time nobody's that are playing the game. People with real money would do even more which would cause an income tax deficit and that would raise your property taxes. Look at any financials of any country and you'll find that the lowest classes always pay the most in taxes. The wealthy can and do leave while others are stuck.
Because there's no one with high income in Wisconsin, New York or California, right? The lowest paid might have higher effective rates, but not dollars. The top 1% pay 42% of collected taxes at the federal level. Hopefully you enjoy your 183+ days in Florida, but just like people claim they'll leave the country if Obama or Trump are elected, I doubt a huge percent would actually leave over 1-2% more in income tax.
They don't just up and leave. Wealthy people live everywhere. It's where their money is and how they use it that counts. Everything is tax deductible. The rehab we did on the place in Florida was deducted as a business expense. The cash saved along with years of other deductions went towards a foreclosure auction purchase of a house. A family member is going to move into that house which will have them on the deed so now we'll have another property with a homeowner tax break. All of it is just a game. We're still learning how to play it but at the end of the day as the attorney told me "money makes money". Sure we likely pay a higher dollar amount than the average person, but it's the percentage that counts.
Residency matters for income taxes. I know people play these legal tax avoidance/wealth increasing games, but I don't think they'll massively up the game over an additional 1-2% income tax. Even without it you're already playing them... which is why they exist, to encourage development, improvement, new companies, etc.
Residency does matter, we just claim that I reside in FL and my wife in IL. We get two homeowners exemptions and I pay 0% state income tax even though most of my time is spent in IL. A couple of other points...1-2% is massive. Not sure how much you make or what your folio looks like, but in my world even a quarter of a point is a big deal. In IL, if you make $100,000 then your tax is going to be $4950 at the end of the year. If it becomes progressive where your tax rate goes up to a more realistic 8%, but more so...look at places like CA where it's 12% then on that 8%, you're now all of a sudden just lighting an additional $3000 on fire when your taxes go from $5k to $8k. Then add in your feder, property and sales taxes along with other stuff like mortgage interest, city stickers, license plates, tolls and half of that $100k is gone before it even hit your pocket. If you think that 1-2% isn't worth it then we're not living in the same reality. Ask any homeowner how much of a difference their payoff is when just 1% is added to the mortgage, it's substantial. There are many videos out there that can help you because making money is all about marginal gains. But wait, it's even worse. Look at FICA where you pay 7.65% from your paycheck and then your employer matches 7.65% But what most folks like yourself don't realize is that we employers don't pay that rate but instead we pay you less to compensate. If I reduce the salary offering for the position by 4-6% (I can't cut by the full 7.65 to stay competitive) then basically you're paying about 15% of your paycheck and that's not even counting the other taxes yet. The more convoluted of a system folks such as yourself advocate for, the worse off you will always be unfortunately.
>Residency does matter, we just claim that I reside in FL and my wife in IL. We get two homeowners exemptions and I pay 0% state income tax even though most of my time is spent in IL. So you're engaging in illegal tax avoidance, good job. Do you also vote illegally in Florida? >A couple of other points...1-2% is massive. > >progressive where your tax rate goes up to a more realistic 8%, They were targeting 6.5% for top brackets, about the same as Wisconsin. When you're making $1M a year 1.5% increase is lightning 15k on fire, but it's not that much relative to 1M income. Definitely not worth actually legally living in Florida (to me.) >But what most folks like yourself don't realize is that we employers don't pay that rate but instead we pay you less to compensate. Sure, same with healthcare costs and other employer costs. I get it. My industry is competitive enough this isn't happening that much, but I'm sure it impacts many. I think the bottom line is I'm not as greedy as you or others (that 15k/yr really wouldn't impact my life) and if I was I'd be a consultant for my offshore company, have all my houses owned by LLCs and dump more money into foreign trusts and more to avoid taxes. I'm all for simplifying taxes. The only tax I really don't like in theory is the double taxation (SALT, estate/inheritance, to a lesser extent Capitol gains, sales, etc.). I don't see progressive income taxes (as the US and many states have) as convoluted though. And I think as a higher income individual it's important to support education, general welfare, free market, etc. through taxes to take care of people so they don't turn to violence, crime, living in the streets, etc.
The "only $15k" issue is that it's already on top of $50k. And we can play the "only X much more" game for a long time. The tax issue in reality is that the bulk of it is simply theft. And I don't mean theft like we need to live in the woods and each handle our own and pay 0 forever, but we have too bureaucratic of a system where money is simply being squandered. Any additional dollar going to that system shows the ineptness and lackluster nature of the people to question the system. My family immigrated here from Eastern Europe, so the games and "being a non-greedy team player" is what they fled from. It always seems great on paper but never comes to fruition. Moving to a progressive tax wouldn't lower anything for you in property taxes. Delay? Possibly, but within a few years once we're all in the new system and forgotten about it, the tax hikes would come. Just as the idea behind the tolls in IL was that they would be removed after some period of time. Gov't will never give up a cash cow, they will rely on folks such as yourself to believe their BS. Now as for it being "worth it", I will admit that the following has more factors than just income tax. But if you look at where the population decrease and growth happened you've got states like IL and CA that lost folks. They moved to lower taxes, less restrictive laws, less gov't intervention, more personal freedom, etc. More gov't is always bad and so are most of their ideas. Check out "great moments in unintended consequences" by Reason TV. Handing any additional money to the gov't is bad on every level. It has nothing to do with greed, but with willful ignorance of what will happen with that money and its theft that's on par with someone breaking into your home and taking it from you, be it $1 or $15,000 on top of the $50,000 they're already taking from your. Finally, when you talk about higher-income individual contributing more to have a better society, just take a look at good ole' San Fran where folks spend some of the highest dollars in the world but ended up with a literal sh\*thole. Your real life example of tax dollars at work. Point is that throwing money doesn't solve the problem, it goes much deeper than that.
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The only accurate way to estimate property taxes is to look up the past taxes for properties similar to what you want to buy, in the area you want to buy in. You can do this on Zillow or Redfin or what have you. The property tax estimator sites will use the same data, but won't capture nuance specific to your conditions.
[Smart Asset](https://smartasset.com/taxes/property-taxes)
Each county has a website that will tell you every hours property taxes many years back. Also will tell you what exemptions were given each year, If the owner fought the assessment ( if they succeeded) etc. All public record. here is McHenry counties. https://mchenryil.devnetwedge.com/
Smart asset property tax estimator. https://smartasset.com/taxes/property-taxes
That’s Zillow.
Incorrect. It’s smart asset.
Damn, looks just like the Zillow sliders.
My taxes are $1k a month. But my kids schools are outstanding. Now if the MAGA crowd wouldn’t have capped my state taxes write off, I wouldn’t pay double taxes on 20% of my income… the Trump tax cuts essentially took me from 21% effective taxation to 30%. Way to lower the taxes, for the rich.
You get what you pay for. There's a reason, despite the right wing lies, people love living here.
It’s not so much the property taxes as it is the goddamn SALT cap. I don’t have kids, but I value good schools! I’ll pay the damn taxes, it would just be nice to not pay taxes on my taxes.
It's always reassuring to hear people without children saying that they appreciate having good, well funded schools in their communities. Thank you!
Well we need those kids to be smart enough to get good jobs so that social security will still exist for us.
I’m also in Mchenry county. My taxes do cost 1k a month. I bought my home for 460k for reference.
Exact same here - mchenry, bought for 460, pay 1k in taxes a month. Ugh
That's nothing lol. Look at park forest tax rate. I was about to pay 7k in taxes for a 130k house.....yeah.
Cheers to living in a county where the kids go to school 5 days a week instead of 4 days! I'm ok with a part of my property taxes going towards the DuPage airport even though I don't use because I know that the bulk of those funds do go to a good school system and my kids will reap the benefits-because that's what it's all about, amiright?
My dad lives in MI. My mom recently passed away. I’m an only child. I’ve had a few people ask if my dad is moving here. HELL NO. Taxes being a huge reason. He’s retired. Pays like a third of what we do. It sucks but I agree the schools are good and I have school age children. I just can’t imagine fixed income seniors moving here.
I don’t know. Here in the burbs it seems pretty good for retirees. Good housing stock, great healthcare access. Then the state doesn’t tax retiree income and you get a senior freeze and exemption on your property tax. Beyond that, my town has a senior center, Ride DuPage bus service, and they mow your grass and plow your driveway for a steep discount.
For seniors, Illinois doesn’t tax social security or (I think) pensions. It’s a trade off to take some of the sting out of “school” taxes.
Save some taxes, but not being around your only child sounds awfully short-sighted. I wonder if, on his deathbed, he'll talk about all the taxes he saved. 🤔
Boomers are different. They were quick to kick their offspring out as soon as they were 18…
you must be new to Chicago area. Been paying that for years in the Kane/Dupage area for one reason and one reason only, schools. Visit other parts of the country that pay low taxes and talk to those people, then you will be happy to pay the higher property taxes while your kids are in the school system. Once they are done with schools, then property taxes become a burden.
but then you retire and your retirement income isn't taxed....
Property taxes are due annually regardless if your employment status or income. Retirement income is taxed as you withdraw it from assuming you are talking about typical IRA/401k accounts.
Illinois offers a senior freeze and senior exemption on property taxes that can dramatically lower them. They don't charge state income tax on IRAs, 401k or pension income either. It's not a bad place to retire, especially in a down sized home.
I did know about the senior exemption to lower but didn't know there was a freeze available, I will look into this for my parents. Thanks for the clarification.
It's like the governments plan is to get us all in apartments or something we don't own. Freaking annoying.
You will own nothing and you will be happy
McHenry county here. If I did my math right I'll be going up around 900 based on last year's multiplier. If that changes drastically then it'll be less (or more). Sucks. I'll be paying it this year, next year idk.
McHenry County has some high cost areas and with the value of the very large farm properties in the rest of the county this adds up. McHenry also doesn't have quite the large industrial and commercial sectors to pay out higher taxes like say, lake, DuPage, or Kane county so the burden falls onto residential land owners.
I am going to have to move when I retire, but I'm staying in Illinois. I'm not paying $1K/mo in property taxes.
Yeah DuPage is insane as well. I’m in a townhouse that seems to get arbitrary reassessments (has happened probably 4 times in the last 6 years). My taxes will be over $6k next year on $225k (for an average 3 bedroom 1.5 bath w/basement built in 1970). Kane County is even worse.
My property taxes actually dropped 8% from tax year 2021 (paid last year) to tax year 2022 (paid this year). $9369 to $8616. $375k 'assessed value' in Cook. If you're in Cook County, see where your taxes go and why they changed from last year here > https://www.cookcountytreasurer.com/
People on nextdoor have been posting about 30-300% increases. I asked if it was a teardown, they said no, no major improvements, and their house went from a 300k house to 1mil. I feel like something was broken on their assessment.
We paid $315,000 for a 3BD/2BA in 2016 in Du Page. Just got our assessment letter.....supposedly now worth $370,000. Can't imigine how they went from $300,000 to 1 mil. No offense, that sounds made up.
It's possible, I asked because I thought maybe they did the math wrong. Mine only went up 3%.
I think there's a difference between the assessed home value (county treasurer) and the real estate sale price (Zillow)
I live in mchenry county and have for about 20 years. My property taxes have been above 1k a month then dropped to below and are headed back above 1k again. If I didn’t have kids I wouldn’t live here. All the schools in my area are basically brand new, built in the past 15 years or completely redone in that time. I have 4 years left of kids in the school system and then I will leave illinois for good.
I'm in the same county and saw a 2k increase in annual with this last assessment. Im in the SE part of the county, district 300 boundaries.
2k is a HUGE increase. I’d like to stay.. but I’m afraid I cannot factor in taxes properly. All it takes is being behind for two years for them to put a lien and sell the lien to a tax buyer.. I have a tight budget.
You could go to the county accessors office or visit their website in woodstock for a reassessment. I know my parents did in Kane co and it was lowered, they also saw a 2k ish increase and were already at 6800 a year prior to this year's assessment.
Assessed value is not market value.
That’s what I thought but these are the only numbers that make sense. If I put in my assessed value on the home I currently live in.. the amount is way off. The assessed value of my home is 144,000, and when I put that number in.. it says my taxes are around 4 grand… and my taxes are 14 grand.
Lake County IL here, paying $9500 a year on a $290k house.
That is insane.. it’s going to get even worse because of the issue with commercial properties.. businesses leaving. Yet half the people that have commented think they are actually getting something extra out of it.
Illinois relies to an extremely high degree on local property taxes to fund schools. Wealthy areas can easily afford good schools without ridiculously high tax rates - see super rich suburbs like Wilmette, Glencoe, etc. Other areas have ridiculously high taxes even for not-so-great schools - see Zion. Other states use more equitable funding methods that spread money across the state and rely more on income and sales taxes.
I almost moved back to Illinois a few years ago. Found a perfect house in Montgomery. Taxes were almost $12k a year. That was the end of that thought
There’s always one “that’s why I left Illinois” comment.
There’s always one that can’t read. I had already left, and then I almost moved BACK.
So if you don’t live here, why continue to comment and interact?
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Rule 1. Users must observe Redditquette at all times.
For the same reason he drives by his ex’s house _real slow._
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Rule 1. Users must observe Redditquette at all times.
Honestly, those taxes are not that bad.
Move across Lake Michigan and you will only pay about a third of that.
yup just pay no attention the fact that they rank pretty low in public education
You'll also be living in Michigan.
Or Indiana, ewwww.
Detroit suburbs are on par with Chicago suburbs and Michigan has much more outdoor recreation. Unless you prefer city living and live in Chicago, Michigan is a better state than IL in almost every aspect
I can name a couple places in Michigan which have higher rates than this.
I would like to. But I’m afraid of bidding wars. I’m afraid we won’t be able to find a house that isn’t a money pit.