Property tax in Monroe County, Illinois
In Monroe County, the property tax bill comes from the Monroe County Treasurer/Collector. The 2025 payable 2026 bill is paid in 2 installments, and the next one is due November 6, 2026. You can look up and pay the bill on the county's own payment page. Taken from Monroe County's own pages, checked September 23, 2026.
The median property tax bill in Monroe County, Illinois is $4,588 a year, which is about 1.63% of the county's median home value of $282,100. That effective rate is lower than the typical Illinois county (1.81%) and higher than the national median (0.81%). These are American Community Survey 5-year estimates (2024); your own bill depends on your home's assessed value and any exemptions.
Who sends the property tax bill in Monroe County, and how do you pay it?
The bill comes from the Monroe County Treasurer/Collector. The value it is based on is set by a separate office, the Monroe County Assessor's Office, which is who to ask if the value looks wrong. For how to look up and pay the bill, go to the county's own payment information.
Monroe County bills late in the year: the first installment for 2025 taxes is due in September 2026, not in June as in many Illinois counties. The exemptions on the county's pages (general homestead, senior, senior assessment freeze, disability, veterans, home improvement) are the state's programs, applied for through the Assessor's Office. Payments are taken in person at the Courthouse in Waterloo, at a drop box on the Market Street side of the Courthouse, at many banks in Monroe and Randolph counties up to the due date, online, or by phone. Online bank payments cost $2.00 each, and card payments carry a convenience fee. If an escrowing lender pays late, the lender owes the penalties, not your escrow account. The Treasurer accepts prepayments toward a future bill.
When are property taxes due in Monroe County?
For the 2025 payable 2026 bill, Monroe County splits the bill into 2 payments, the first due September 18, 2026 and the last November 6, 2026. The next one due is the second installment, on November 6, 2026. After each due date, interest of 1.5% a month is charged. It is not prorated, and each installment is charged separately. The postmark rule does not apply to taxes that are already delinquent. Unpaid 2025 taxes go to the tax sale on January 14, 2027 at 9:00 a.m. at the Monroe County Courthouse; the county sells the unpaid taxes, not the property, and they must then be redeemed through the County Clerk.
| Payment | Due | Note |
|---|---|---|
| First installment | September 18, 2026 (passed) | Bills for 2025 taxes were mailed June 25, 2026. A mailed payment postmarked on or before the due date counts as on time. |
| Second installment | November 6, 2026 |
From Monroe County's published schedule, checked September 23, 2026. If a date falls on a weekend or holiday, the county's own rules on the next business day apply.
Estimate the property tax on a home in Monroe County
Enter a home's market value for a ballpark at Monroe County's average effective rate of 1.63% (Census). The real bill depends on the home's assessed value, the millage where it sits and any exemptions.
Estimated property tax: $4,598 / year
Property tax in Monroe County at a glance
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Median annual property tax | $4,588 |
| Median home value | $282,100 |
| Effective tax rate | 1.63% |
| Typical Illinois county rate | 1.81% |
| National median county rate | 0.81% |
Effective rate = median real estate taxes paid divided by median home value. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates.
How does Monroe County compare in Illinois?
Among Illinois's 102 counties, Monroe County has the 69th highest effective property-tax rate: 68 rank higher and 33 rank lower. That is on the lower side for Illinois. Nationally, it ranks 236th of 3135 US counties by effective rate. See every Illinois county ranked.
How much do homeowners in Monroe County actually pay?
The median is only the middle bill. Across Monroe County's 11,726 owner-occupied homes, 75.7% pay $3,000 or more a year in property tax, 88.2% pay at least $2,000, and 2.9% pay under $800. Another 2.3% report paying no property tax at all, which usually means an exemption covers the whole bill.
| Annual bill | Homes | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Under $800 | 337 | 2.9% |
| $800 to $1,499 | 325 | 2.8% |
| $1,500 to $1,999 | 448 | 3.8% |
| $2,000 to $2,999 | 1,465 | 12.5% |
| $3,000 or more | 8,880 | 75.7% |
| No property tax paid | 271 | 2.3% |
Owners with a mortgage pay a median of $4,848 and owners without one pay $4,275. Owners who have paid off a home have usually held it longer, and in states that cap how fast an existing owner's assessment can rise, long-held homes carry lower assessed values. Census table B25103.
How does the Monroe County property tax bill compare with local incomes?
The median property tax bill of $4,588 is about 4% of the median income of Monroe County homeowner households, $114,700 a year. That compares two middles, so a retiree in a long-held home can pay a far larger share. 84.7% of Monroe County's occupied homes are lived in by their owners; renters pay property tax too, just folded into rent.
Have property taxes gone up in Monroe County?
Yes. The median bill went from $3,843 in 2015-2019 to $4,588 in 2020-2024, a 19.4% rise. Over the same span the median home value moved 33.5%, from $211,300 to $282,100. Bills rose more slowly than values, which is what assessment caps and falling millage rates do: the county is taxing a smaller share of each home's worth.
Two Census ACS 5-year periods with no survey years in common, in each period's own dollars. A change counts only if it exceeds the combined 90% margin of error.
Property tax in counties next to Monroe County
Monroe County borders 5 counties, 3 of them across the state line.
| County | Effective rate | Median bill | Median home value |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. Clair County, IL | 2.03% | $3,665 | $180,300 |
| Monroe County, IL (this county) | 1.63% | $4,588 | $282,100 |
| Randolph County, IL | 1.43% | $1,927 | $135,100 |
| St. Louis County, MO | 1.2% | $3,335 | $276,800 |
| Jefferson County, MO | 0.8% | $1,906 | $237,200 |
| Ste. Genevieve County, MO | 0.63% | $1,395 | $222,200 |
How is a home assessed in Monroe County?
Illinois assesses homes at 33.33% of market value in every county, Monroe County included. How Illinois assesses and reappraises homes.
Is there a homestead exemption in Monroe County?
Yes. Illinois's General Homestead Exemption is $6,000 of equalized assessed value in most counties, $8,000 in counties next to Cook, and $10,000 in Cook County. That is the Illinois rule, and it applies in Monroe County. Illinois's exemptions and relief programs in full.
Monroe County does not add relief programs of its own beyond the Illinois ones (checked September 23, 2026).
How to appeal your Monroe County property assessment
In Monroe County you appeal to the Monroe County Board of Review. The deadline: Within 30 days of the date of the assessment publication and notice of assessed value, on the Board's complaint form with one copy of your evidence attached. If the Board proposes an increase, you have 14 days from the postmark on that notice to file. The county had not posted 2026 assessment notices or a 2026 deadline as of September 23, 2026. How to file. Checked September 23, 2026 against state law, because Monroe County does not restate them on its own pages.
How Illinois's appeal process works, including the next level if the first one turns you down.
Illinois rules from primary state sources, reviewed September 7, 2026; sources on the Illinois page.
Work out your own numbers
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How much house can I afford?
Your income, debts and down payment against the 28/36 rule lenders actually use, with Monroe County's tax rate to hand.
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Mortgage calculator
Monthly payment with principal, interest, tax and insurance, plus what an extra payment saves you.
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Illinois income tax
Brackets, standard deduction and what Illinois actually taxes.
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Sales tax in Monroe County
The other local tax: combined state and local rate for this county.
Sources
- Median real estate taxes paid and median home value for Monroe County, Illinois: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates (2020-2024), tables B25103, B25077, B25102, B25119 and B25003; the five-year comparison uses the 2015-2019 estimates. Neighboring counties: Census county adjacency file.