Many Chicago-area municipalities impose their own Real Property Transfer Tax (RPTT) on top of Cook County and Illinois state taxes. These local transfer taxes are frequently overlooked by buyers focused on Chicago proper, yet they can add thousands of dollars to closing costs in communities like Evanston, Oak Park, Wilmette, and Cicero.
Evanston's tax is a CLIFF structure, not graduated — crossing the $1.5M threshold reprices the entire amount at the higher rate.
Cicero and Berwyn ($10/$1K = 1.0%) are often overlooked because they're not commonly known luxury markets, but any property sale there triggers the full 1.0% local tax.
Whether a property is in a municipality with a local RPTT depends on the exact parcel location — not the mailing address. Some streets straddle municipal boundaries.
Not all Cook County suburbs have local RPTTs. Most west and south suburban communities have no local transfer tax, relying only on the state and county layers.
The best source is your title company or real estate attorney, who will run a full title search and identify all applicable transfer taxes for the exact parcel. Municipal websites also often publish their current RPTT ordinances.
Most Chicago suburb RPTTs are paid by the buyer (Evanston, Oak Park, Cicero, Berwyn, Wilmette). The Illinois state transfer tax is paid by the seller. Cook County's tax is paid by the buyer. Your contract should specify the allocation.
Evanston's tax is a cliff structure — once the sale price crosses $1.5M, the higher rate of $5.00/$1,000 applies to the ENTIRE sale price, not just the excess over $1.5M. This creates a pricing notch just below $1.5M.
Enter any address — we apply all applicable tax layers automatically.
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