Cook County, IL — Home-Buyer Records Checklist

State

Illinois

County seat

Chicago

Population (2024 est.)

5,182,617

Land area

945.3 sq mi

County FIPS

17031

Cook County at a glance

Cook County is one of 102 counties and county-equivalents in Illinois. Its county seat is Chicago. County government publishes its offices and parcel tools online. Official county website. With a 2024 Census Bureau population estimate of 5,182,617, it is the most populous county in Illinois. In the FBI's 2024 reported-crime file, agencies here reported 148,739 offenses — 28.7 per 1,000 residents; the breakdown is below.

Records to check before you buy in Cook County

Property record card — the Cook County assessor / appraisal office. Pull the parcel's assessed-value history, exemption status, and last sale. This is the file your future tax bill is calculated from, and it shows whether the current owner is enjoying exemptions you will not inherit. County government sits in Chicago; the official county website is the reliable route to the parcel search and the office directory.
Deeds & liens — the Cook County recorder / land-records office. Read the deed chain, open liens, easements, and plat maps — the file a listing never mentions.
Official flood determination. Check the exact parcel on FEMA's National Flood Hazard Layer — not the listing site's licensed model. Zone boundaries cut through streets; the house next door can be in a different zone. Cook County is the primary county for 167 ZIP codes in the Census Bureau's ZIP-to-county crosswalk — and zone lines ignore every one of them.
The county's reported-crime record. In the FBI's 2024 file, agencies in Cook County reported 148,739 offenses — 28.7 per 1,000 residents; the largest single category was larceny-theft (87,086). The crime section below sets that beside the Illinois county median.
Registry check. Run the address through Illinois State Police Sex Offender Registry (Illinois State Police) and note the counts within a mile — then check again the week you close.
Permits & code history — the Cook building department. Open permits, expired permits, and code cases tell you whether the renovation in the photos was ever inspected. County permitting is run out of Chicago.
School assignment — the district office, not the listing. Only the district's own boundary lookup confirms which school an address is actually zoned for.

County list, land area and population: U.S. Census Bureau (population: 2024 PEP estimate). County seat and official website: Wikidata (CC0), checked 2026-11-04. Flood determinations: FEMA. Registry: Illinois.

Reported crime in Cook County — FBI 2024

Reported crime in Cook County in 2024 was overwhelmingly property crime: agencies logged 148,739 offenses, of which 129,723 were property offenses and 19,016 violent. The total rate is 28.7 per 1,000 residents (violent 366.9, property 2503.0 per 100,000).

Inside Illinois, the median county in the same file recorded a violent-crime rate of 108 per 100,000 and a property-crime rate of 593 per 100,000 (medians computed from the FBI 2024 county file across 102 counties).

The largest reported categories were larceny-theft (87,086), motor vehicle theft (27,596) and burglary (15,041).

Coverage: 154 of 154 law-enforcement agencies assigned to this county reported at least one month of 2024 offense data to the FBI; 120 reported all 12 months. Counts are reported offenses only (FBI Return A / Arson master files), assigned whole to each agency's primary county; they are not adjusted for non-reporting agencies.

These are offenses reported to law enforcement — not convictions, and not a verdict on any street or address. A CurbFacts report pairs this county record with the ZIP-level picture for the specific address you are buying.

Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, UCR Return A + Arson master files, data year 2024 (pulled 2026-11-04).

Check the records behind the address before you offer.

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ZIP guides in Cook County

Registry counts and county crime records for the 160 ZIP codes whose primary county is Cook County.

60004 — Arlington Heights 60005 — Arlington Heights 60007 — Elk Grove Village 60008 — Rolling Meadows 60010 — Barrington Hills 60016 — Des Plaines 60018 — Chicago 60022 — Glencoe 60025 — Glenview 60026 — Glenview 60043 — Kenilworth 60053 — Morton Grove 60056 — Mount Prospect 60062 — Northbrook 60067 — Palatine 60068 — Park Ridge 60070 — Prospect Heights 60074 — Palatine 60076 — Skokie 60077 — Skokie 60090 — Wheeling 60091 — Wilmette 60093 — Winnetka 60104 — Bellwood 60107 — Streamwood 60120 — Elgin 60130 — Forest Park 60131 — Franklin Park 60141 — Cook County 60153 — Maywood 60154 — Westchester 60155 — Broadview 60160 — Melrose Park 60162 — Hillside 60163 — Berkeley 60164 — Northlake 60165 — Stone Park 60169 — Hoffman Estates 60171 — River Grove 60173 — Schaumburg 60176 — Schiller Park 60193 — Schaumburg 60194 — Schaumburg 60195 — Schaumburg 60201 — Evanston 60202 — Evanston 60203 — Skokie 60302 — Oak Park 60304 — Oak Park 60305 — River Forest 60402 — Berwyn 60406 — Blue Island 60409 — Calumet City 60411 — Chicago Heights 60415 — Chicago Ridge 60419 — Dolton 60422 — Flossmoor 60425 — Glenwood 60426 — Harvey 60428 — Markham 60429 — Hazel Crest 60430 — Homewood 60438 — Lansing 60439 — Lemont 60443 — Matteson 60445 — Crestwood 60452 — Oak Forest 60453 — Oak Lawn 60455 — Bridgeview 60456 — Hometown 60457 — Hickory Hills 60458 — Justice 60459 — Burbank 60461 — Olympia Fields 60462 — Orland Park 60463 — Palos Heights 60464 — Palos Park 60465 — Palos Hills 60466 — Park Forest 60467 — Orland Park 60469 — Posen 60471 — Richton Park 60472 — Robbins 60473 — South Holland 60475 — Steger 60476 — Thornton 60477 — Tinley Park 60478 — Country Club Hills 60480 — Willow Springs 60482 — Worth 60487 — Tinley Park 60501 — Summit 60513 — Brookfield 60525 — Countryside 60526 — La Grange Park 60534 — Lyons 60546 — Riverside 60558 — Western Springs 60601 — Chicago 60602 — Chicago 60604 — Chicago 60605 — Chicago 60606 — Chicago 60607 — Chicago 60608 — Chicago 60609 — Chicago 60610 — Chicago 60611 — Chicago 60612 — Chicago 60613 — Chicago 60614 — Chicago 60615 — Chicago 60616 — Chicago 60617 — Chicago 60618 — Chicago 60619 — Chicago 60620 — Chicago 60621 — Chicago 60622 — Chicago 60623 — Chicago 60624 — Chicago 60625 — Chicago 60626 — Chicago 60628 — Chicago 60629 — Chicago 60630 — Chicago 60631 — Chicago 60632 — Chicago 60633 — Chicago 60634 — Chicago 60636 — Chicago 60637 — Chicago 60638 — Chicago 60639 — Chicago 60640 — Chicago 60641 — Chicago 60642 — Chicago 60643 — Chicago 60644 — Chicago 60645 — Chicago 60646 — Chicago 60647 — Chicago 60649 — Chicago 60651 — Chicago 60652 — Chicago 60653 — Chicago 60654 — Chicago 60655 — Chicago 60656 — Chicago 60657 — Chicago 60659 — Chicago 60660 — Chicago 60706 — Norridge 60707 — Elmwood Park 60712 — Lincolnwood 60714 — Niles 60803 — Alsip 60804 — Cicero 60805 — Evergreen Park 60827 — Riverdale

The Illinois rules that apply in Cook County

Disclosure form

Residential Real Property Disclosure Report

Flood disclosure

Required by state law

Tax reset at sale

Reassessment cycle

Every 4 years (quadrennial) in most counties; every 3

Traps researched for Illinois buyers: Exemptions vanish after a sale until you re-apply; Cook County reassesses on a different clock.

Read the full Illinois guide — disclosure standard, tax math, registry and flood

More Illinois counties

Clark County Clay County Clinton County Coles County Crawford County Cumberland County De Witt County DeKalb County

All Illinois counties · Illinois buyer guide

See what the listing doesn't say.

Every CurbFacts report pulls the public records behind an address — flood determination, registry, tax reset, price history, permits, and what's planned nearby — and shows its sources.