McLean County tax bills, reassessment and the November tax sale
Tax year 2025 bills were due June 10 and September 10, 2026. The county's own example: a $100,000 home with the $6,000 general homestead exemption, at a rate of 7.5 per $100, pays about $2,050 a year, roughly 2 percent of value. Your rate depends on where you live. Assessments aim for one-third of market value. McLean is a township county, and state law sets general reassessments every fourth year, so the next one is 2027. If your assessment looks high, you get 30 days after your township's publication to file a complaint with the Board of Review, and the 2026 deadlines are October 5 for Normal and October 29 for the City of Bloomington.
Unpaid taxes go to the Treasurer's annual tax sale. The 2026 sale is set for November 6, after a judgment hearing on November 5, and the delinquent list was scheduled to run October 19 to 22. The sale is lien-only, so the tax debt is sold, not the house. Bids start at 9 percent and the lowest wins. If no one else bids, the county can take the certificate itself, and under the July 2026 amendment to state law the county's penalty is 0.75 percent a month. You stay the owner and can redeem through the County Clerk, usually within 2.5 to 3 years for a home. If you're 65 or older, look at the $5,000 senior homestead exemption and the Senior Assessment Freeze for household income of $75,000 or less, which you apply for every year. The Treasurer's office answers tax questions at (309) 888-5180.
Foreclosure cases at the Front Street courthouse
Every Illinois mortgage foreclosure goes through court. McLean County is in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, and local cases are heard at the McLean County Circuit Court, 104 W. Front St. in Bloomington, (309) 434-6650. The Circuit Clerk is in the same building at (309) 888-5301.
The county's court-run Residential Foreclosure Mediation Program was suspended effective May 1, 2025, so there's no court mediation step to count on. Free help still exists. Mid Central Community Action, a HUD-approved housing counseling agency serving McLean and Livingston counties, offers one-on-one foreclosure counseling, including loan modification options. The state clock applies either way. You can reinstate by paying the missed amounts and costs within 90 days after you're served. Your right to redeem runs until the later of 7 months from service or 3 months from the judgment, and it ends before the sale. After the sale, the court holds a hearing to confirm it, and the buyer can take possession 30 days after that order. The Illinois foreclosure timeline and the deadline calculator lay out each step.
Bloomington, Normal and the towns around them
Bloomington, the county seat, and Normal, home to Illinois State University, sit at the center of the county, and smaller towns and farm townships surround them.
Home values climb as you leave the twin cities: about $203,300 to $210,800 in Bloomington City and Normal townships, $327,700 to $345,500 in Towanda and Old Town townships, and $98,100 to $141,300 in edge towns like Saybrook, Chenoa and Gridley. Small Census samples make the town figures rough, so use them as a starting point rather than a price.
The math on a $278,950 McLean County sale
Redfin puts the county's median sale price at $278,950 in May 2026, up 9.6 percent from a year earlier, on 206 sales, with homes selling in a median 43 days. That figure moves around. It was $231,250 in February, on about half as many sales. Here's a rough look at what comes out of a $278,950 sale on a traditional listing:
- Agent commission at about 4.9 percent (Clever's Illinois average, updated September 2026): roughly $13,700
- Closing costs at about 1.2 percent: roughly $3,300
- State transfer tax at $0.50 per $500: about $280
That's roughly $17,300 before your mortgage payoff, repairs or holding costs. Ask your title company whether a county stamp applies on top of the state's and who pays it under your contract. The deed also needs a completed PTAX-203 transfer declaration. If the property is a fit, a cash buyer may make an offer and you pick the closing date. Listing with an agent is also a fine choice. The pages on selling before a foreclosure sale and selling an inherited house cover those situations.
Bloomington and the other Eleventh Circuit pages
Here's the city page for McLean County, then two counties that share its court circuit.
- Bloomington: county seat and home of the Front Street courthouse
- Ford County: shares the Eleventh Judicial Circuit with McLean County
- Woodford County: late-October tax sale and foreclosures at the Eureka courthouse
- All Illinois pages: the statewide directory of county and city pages
Sources: McLean County Treasurer; McLean County, Estimate Your Property Tax; McLean County, Filing an Assessment Complaint; McLean County Annual Tax Sale; McLean County Circuit Court; McLean County Foreclosure Mediation; Mid Central Community Action, Homeownership Services; Illinois Property Tax Code (35 ILCS 200); Illinois Code of Civil Procedure, mortgage foreclosure article (735 ILCS 5); Census Bureau, ACS 2020-2024 median home value by township and place; Redfin Data Center; Clever commission survey
