# Understanding & finding tax-exempt properties Non-profit and government entities which own properties in Cook County "used exclusively for charitable, religious, educational, or governmental purposes and not leased or used for profit" [1] are exempt from paying property taxes. To ensure accurate record-keeping as to which properties are qualified exempt and which are not the Cook County Assessor's Office still maintains a database of names of the organizations having tax-exempt properties. Chicago Cityscape integrates the database and ties the properties to all other information we have aggregated about those properties, within Property Finder and Property Reports. This article will describe the variety of owners of tax-exempt owners, summarize their holdings, and instruct on using Property Finder to locate these properties. ## Who are the owners? There are over 5,700 owners of tax-exempt property, which collectively own over 192,000 properties in Cook County. They include: - state and local government authorities - municipalities - transportation and transit agencies - places of worship - colleges and universities - non-profit organizations - public housing authorities [[Exempt owners|View the full list of owners]] ## How to find owners of tax-exempt property Many properties in Cook County are tax-exempt because they are owned by a government (like a municipality) or governmental authority (like the Cook County Land Bank Authority and the Chicago Transit Authority). These can be easily filtered. [[taxexemptproperties|Learn more about the owners of tax-exempt properties]]. ### Find all tax-exempt properties 1. In the Property Finder filters, look for or search for "Tax exempt status". (See *screenshot 1*) 2. Choose the appropriate filter, either "Tax exempt (owned by government, place of worship, or a non-profit org.)" or "Not tax exempt". 3. Then select the "Apply filters" button, and the data table will load new results. ![[Pasted image 20240807180837.png]] *Screenshot 1 showing the tax exempt status filter in Property Finder.* ### Find properties owned by specific tax-exempt entities 1. In the Property Finder filters, look for or search for "Tax exempt status". 2. Select the dropdown menu (under the "Owner" heading), and then select inside the text field. Type in a keyword and wait a moment for results to appear. These are the names of entities that own tax-exempt properties. 3. Select a tax-exempt entity. 4. Then select the "Apply filters" button, and the data table will load properties that are owned by that tax-exempt entity. ## Notes 1. [Cook County Board of Review](https://www.cookcountyboardofreview.com/what-we-do/property-tax-exemptions) # Related articles - [[Cook County Land Bank Authority|Finding CCLBA properties]] - [[Chicago-owned property|Finding Chicago-owned properties]] - [[Property Finder in a Place Report|Use Property Finder to identify specific properties in a Place]]