Evanston Township 2025 Appeal Results: 26.6% of Home Appeals Won — With a Huge Gap by Property Type

Evanston Township is the City of Evanston — a dense North Shore community of single-family homes, a very large stock of condominiums, apartment buildings clustered around Northwestern University, and a substantial downtown commercial core. That mix shows up sharply in the 2025 reassessment appeal data: income property and homeowners fared well, while condo owners struggled. Here's what the numbers show and what they mean if you're weighing an appeal.

Overall Results

For the 2025 tax year — Evanston's reassessment year — the Cook County Assessor decided 5,454 homeowner appeals in the township, counting each appeal once (a condo building's units, decided together, are one appeal). Of those, 1,452 received a "Change" (the assessed value or classification was adjusted in the owner's favor), a success rate of 26.6%. Across the winning appeals of every property type, assessed values fell by roughly $44.4 million in total, and the average winning appeal cut its assessed value by about 9%.

A "No Change" outcome doesn't necessarily mean a property was fairly assessed. It often means the evidence didn't meet the Assessor's standard, the comparables didn't support a reduction, or the filing was missing key documentation. As the class data shows, the right evidence for the property type makes a real difference.

Success Rate by Property Type

This is where the township-wide average is misleading. Outcomes ranged from 12.2% for condo appeals to about 70% for apartment buildings:

Counted by appeal: the county decides a condo building's units, or a multi-parcel commercial filing, together, and each such case counts once. "Avg AV cut" is the average assessed-value reduction among winning appeals in each group; *many condo appeals cover a whole building, so their cut is the building's (about 10% of its value on average).

The Condo Paradox

Condo appeals won the least often of any property type: 29 of 237, just 12.2%. Most of Evanston's 5,300-plus condo units were appealed building by building — 161 building appeals covered 5,268 units — and those building appeals won only 8.1%; owners who appealed a single unit won 21.1%. This is a familiar Cook County pattern, and it's especially pronounced in a condo-heavy community like Evanston. Condo values are often set building-by-building using consistent internal data, which leaves little room for a single unit to argue it's mispriced relative to its neighbors. The condo appeals that succeed usually lean on sales within the same association and on documented unit-specific differences — floor, view, condition — rather than broad neighborhood comparisons.

Income Property Led — Especially Apartments

Evanston's rental market told the opposite story. Multi-family (apartment) owners won 70.0% of their appeals — 184 of 263 — with an average winning cut of about $71,996, and commercial owners won 40.9%, averaging a large $149,703 reduction. Income property is valued largely on what it earns, so a well-documented income-and-expense case — rent roll, operating expenses, vacancy, and the right capitalization rate — gives the Assessor concrete grounds to lower the value. With Northwestern University anchoring a deep rental market, Evanston has a lot of this property, and owners who brought the financials did very well.

Homeowners Did Well Too

Single-family homeowners won 27.3% of their appeals — just above the homeowner average — with an average cut of about $8,827, reflecting Evanston's higher home values. For homes, the winning evidence is comparable sales and accurate property characteristics: confirm the Assessor's record of your home's size, age, and condition, and line up recent sales of similar nearby houses.

What These Results Mean for You

• Reductions happen — but they depend heavily on property type. The gap from 12.2% (condo appeals) to 70.0% (apartments) is enormous.
• Match your evidence to your class. Homes win on comparable sales and accurate characteristics; commercial and multi-family win on income and expense data.
• Condo owners should sharpen the case. The 12.2% rate means a generic filing rarely lands — same-building comps and specific unit differences matter most.
• Don't read "No Change" as the final word. The Board of Review offers a separate, second-level appeal after the Assessor.

You Can Appeal Every Year — Here's Where Evanston Stands

2025 was Evanston's reassessment year, so its values were freshly set and generally carry forward until the next reassessment in 2028. For 2026 — an annual (non-reassessment) year — Evanston's Assessor appeal window has already closed (it ran April 22 to June 4, 2026). The Board of Review's Evanston window closed too (it ran August 3 to September 1, 2026), so the next step is a fresh annual appeal in a future year. Cook County lets you challenge your assessed value every year, not just in reassessment years. Track Evanston's current window on our deadlines page.

For context on dollars: Evanston's composite tax rate runs around 8.2%, on the lower end for Cook County. As a rough guide, a $5,000 assessed-value cut translates to roughly $1,242 a year in tax savings; a large commercial or apartment reduction can mean well into five figures. Estimates exclude exemptions and vary by tax code.