Evanston's own stamp waits on your water bill
Evanston set up its own real estate transfer tax in 1986, and the City says the seller typically pays it unless the contract says otherwise. The rate is $5 for every $1,000 of the price up to $1.5 million, $7 per $1,000 from there to $5 million, and $9 above that. That sits on top of the Illinois and Cook County stamps, which the Cook County Clerk also lists as the seller's.
The stamp is a gate, too. The City wants requests filed online 7 to 10 business days before closing, allows 5 business days to process them, and doesn't expedite, with no exceptions. Your final water bill is run automatically with the request (condos and vacant land aside), and stamps are issued only after every debt you owe the City is paid. An old water balance or an unpaid City bill can push a closing date.
Lead service lines under the older houses
Most of Evanston's housing is old. Census estimates for 2020 to 2024 show 40.3 percent of the city's 34,095 housing units went up in 1939 or earlier. Add the 1940s and 1950s and about 59 percent predate 1960.
That age matters underground. The City keeps an inventory of suspected lead service lines on its Water Service Information Map, and anyone, a buyer included, can look up an address. The private side of the line runs from the house to the valve in the parkway. Under the homeowner-initiated program, once you replace the private side, the City replaces the lead on the public side at no expense to you. The Illinois disclosure form asks whether you know of lead water pipes.
Condos, big buildings and few distressed sales
Evanston isn't mostly detached houses. About 32.5 percent of its housing units are single-family detached, and 31.7 percent sit in buildings with 20 or more units. About 56 percent of occupied homes are lived in by their owners. Selling a place with tenants in it? The City requires yearly registration of long-term rentals, single-unit homes and condos included, and inspections run on a 5-, 3- or 1-year cycle depending on violations found last time.
Distress is rare here. Foreclosures, bank-owned homes and short sales made up 6 of 852 closed sales in the 12 months ending June 2026, or 0.7 percent, in the North Shore-Barrington Association of REALTORS report.
School Districts 65 and 202 set most of the bill
The Cook County Clerk's 2024 tax rate report puts Evanston's average composite rate at about 8.28 percent, up from 8.07 percent the year before. School District 65 (3.47) and Evanston Township High School District 202 (2.20) are the biggest pieces, and the City says its own share is about 16 percent of the bill. Evanston is in the north suburbs, which the Cook County Assessor last reassessed in 2025. The Assessor's calendar shows Evanston's 2026 Board of Review appeal window closed September 1.
Behind on the mortgage? Under Illinois law, your right to redeem runs until the later of 7 months after service or 3 months after the judgment, and it ends before the sale. The Cook County page covers the tax sale and the court side.
The honest math on $450,000 in Evanston
MRED data for the North Shore-Barrington Association of REALTORS put the median traditional sale price at $450,000 for the 12 months ending June 2026. Say yours would list there. Commission at about 4.9 percent, Clever's Illinois average (updated September 2026), comes to about $22,000 on that price. Closing costs near 1.2 percent add about $5,400. Then the stamps: $2,250 for Evanston, $450 for Illinois and $225 for Cook County, about $2,900 in all. All in, that's close to $30,400 before any repairs. Run the Clerk's sample-bill formula with the $10,000 homestead exemption and the 8.28 percent rate, and taxes on that house come to roughly $10,500 a year, about $875 for each month it sits. Your real bill depends on your assessment and exemptions.
The other route: if the property is a fit, a cash buyer may make you an offer on the house as it stands, and you pick the closing date. With so few distressed sales here, listing may well net more, and that's a fine choice. Run both numbers first.
Sources: City of Evanston, real estate transfer tax; City of Evanston, lead service line replacement; City of Evanston, rental registration; City of Evanston, property tax bill explanation; Census Bureau, ACS 2020-2024 Evanston housing profile; North Shore-Barrington Association of REALTORS, lender-mediated report; Cook County Clerk, 2024 tax rate report; Cook County Clerk, transfer fees; Cook County Assessor, assessment calendar; 735 ILCS 5/15-1603, redemption; 765 ILCS 77/35, disclosure form; Clever, average commission rates
