Property Tax in Rock Island County, Illinois

What the Rock Island County numbers mean

The median is the midpoint of the county's actual bills: half of Rock Island County homeowners pay more than $3,372 a year and half pay less. The exact bill for any one home depends on its assessed value, exemptions, and which school, municipal and special districts cover it.

Set against the median home value of $144,700, the median bill works out to a derived effective rate of 2.33%. That rate is an estimate computed from the two medians — no county publishes a rate calculated this way — but it adjusts for home prices, which makes comparisons between counties more meaningful.

Rock Island County by the numbers

*Estimate derived from Census medians (tax ÷ value), not an official rate.

Rock Island County at a glance

• Median tax rank in Illinois: #22 of 102 counties
• Median home value rank in Illinois: #39 of 102
• Population rank in Illinois: #14 of 102 (142,995 residents)
• Population density rank: #11 of 102 (334 people per square mile)
• Land area rank in Illinois: #67 of 102 (427 sq mi, 0.8% of the combined county land area)
• Median tax as a monthly figure: $281; per $1,000 of home value: $2.33

How Rock Island County compares

Set against its state, Rock Island County's median bill of $3,372 is about 35% lower than the Illinois median ($5,189). Against the country as a whole it is about 14% higher than the US median ($2,969). That places the county #22 of 102 Illinois counties ranked by median taxes paid.

Remember what drives the ranking: bills follow home values as much as rates. Rock Island County's median home, at $144,700, ranks #39 by value in Illinois, while its derived rate of 2.33% compares with a derived US figure of 0.98%.

Some extra context for Rock Island County: the median bill works out to about $281 a month, and the derived rate equals roughly $2,330 of tax per $100,000 of home value. The county is home to 142,995 people — the #14 most populous county in Illinois, spread over 427 square miles, a density of about 334 people per square mile. Its median home value, $144,700, ranks #39 among the state's 102 counties with data.

Zooming out: of 3133 counties nationwide with published Census figures, only 345 record a higher median tax bill than Rock Island County — it sits in the top 11% nationally. The county holds roughly 1.1% of Illinois's people. Its homes are worth less than the state norm (median $144,700 versus $250,500), and a decade at the derived rate of 2.33% adds up to about 23.30% of the median home's value in tax. The cheapest county in the state, Pulaski County, medians $668 — $2,704 less than Rock Island County per year.

Counties nearest Rock Island County in the Illinois ranking

Rock Island County and its population peers

Counties of a similar size can tax very differently. The table below shows the counties closest to Rock Island County in population across the United States, with their median bills and home values. Within the group of 9, Rock Island County ($3,372) ranks #2 of 9 by median tax paid.

The closest population match is Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania (143,259 residents), where the median real estate tax paid is $2,147 on a median home value of $140,400 — $1,225 more than Rock Island County pays.

Staying within Illinois, the counties nearest Rock Island County by population are Peoria County (179,831 residents, median tax $3,416 on a median value of $152,600); McLean County (170,882 residents, median tax $4,503 on a median value of $198,300); Kendall County (135,053 residents, median tax $7,556 on a median value of $298,900); Tazewell County (130,555 residents, median tax $3,481 on a median value of $164,500). The spread in their median bills — all under the same state framework — shows how much of the property tax burden is decided county by county and district by district.

How the tax is worked out

The bill is built in stages. First the assessor puts a market value on the property. Exemptions — a homestead exemption above all — then reduce the taxable amount. Finally the combined local rate is applied. To see the scale: at the county's derived rate of 2.33%, each $100,000 of value corresponds to about $2,330 of tax a year, and a $400,000 home to roughly $9,320. Real bills use the official assessment and district rates, not this derived figure, so treat the example as a sense of scale only.

Illustrative bills in Rock Island County at the derived rate

The derived rate of 2.33% is only an estimate built from medians, but applying it to different home values gives a sense of scale for Rock Island County — and a quick way to compare with the state derived rate of 2.07% and the US figure of 0.98%:

Illustration only: real bills are computed from the assessed value, exemptions, and the combined rates of the property's actual taxing districts.

Checking your assessment in Rock Island County

If your bill looks wrong, work through these steps:

1. Get your property record card from the assessor and check the basics — living area, lot size, bedrooms, condition, and any exemptions you should have.
2. Compare your assessed value with recent sale prices of similar homes in Rock Island County.
3. Talk to the assessor's office informally first; clear errors are often fixed without a hearing.
4. If needed, file a formal appeal with the local review board before the deadline on your assessment notice, with your evidence attached.
5. Keep paying the bill as issued while the appeal runs, unless your notice says otherwise — unpaid taxes accrue penalties regardless of an appeal.

More Illinois counties

• Kendall County, IL — $7,556
• Tazewell County, IL — $3,481
• McLean County, IL — $4,503
• LaSalle County, IL — $3,336
• Kankakee County, IL — $4,125
• Peoria County, IL — $3,416

Frequently asked questions