What is the real estate transfer tax rate in Illinois?

Illinois charges a state transfer tax of $0.50 per $500 of sale price (0.10%) plus a county tax of $0.25 per $500 (0.05%), for a combined $0.75 per $500, or 0.15%, before any municipal transfer tax.

Who pays the transfer tax in Illinois?

The seller typically pays the state and county transfer tax in Illinois, while municipal transfer taxes are often the buyer's responsibility. The split is negotiable in the contract, so check your purchase agreement.

Does Chicago have its own transfer tax?

Yes. Chicago levies a municipal transfer tax of $5.25 per $500 (1.05%) in total — a $3.75 buyer portion and a $1.50 seller (CTA) portion — on top of the state and county rates. Add $5.25 in the municipal field to include it.

How is the transfer tax rounded in Illinois?

Illinois transfer tax is computed per each $500 (or fraction thereof) of consideration. The price is rounded up to the next full $500 increment before applying the per-$500 rates, which can add a small amount.

Are any Illinois property transfers exempt from transfer tax?

Yes. Transfers such as gifts with no consideration, deeds securing debt, deeds correcting a prior deed, and transfers where the consideration is under $100 can be exempt under 35 ILCS 200/31-45. Check the exemption list on the transfer declaration.

What is the Illinois Real Estate Transfer Tax Calculator?

Calculates the Illinois real estate transfer tax on a property sale using the $0.50 per $500 state rate plus the $0.25 per $500 county rate, with an option to add municipal transfer taxes like Chicago's $5.25 per $500 that apply on top. It runs free in your browser on Gera Tools, with nothing uploaded.

Illinois Real Estate Transfer Tax Calculator

Name: Illinois Real Estate Transfer Tax Calculator
Creator: Gera Tools
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Three separate governments can tax the same Illinois deed: the state, the county, and — if the property sits in a home-rule municipality — the city. The state and county pieces are small and uniform; the municipal piece is where the money is, and in Chicago it is seven times the state-plus-county amount. This calculator stacks all three so you can see the full cost of recording a sale before you sign the contract.

The three layers of Illinois transfer tax

Layer	Rate per $500	Effective %	Statutory basis
State of Illinois	$0.50	0.10%	35 ILCS 200/31-10
County	$0.25	0.05%	35 ILCS 200/31-15 (authorized statewide)
Municipality (home-rule only)	varies ($0 in most towns)	varies	local ordinance

Everywhere in Illinois you pay at least $0.75 per $500 — 0.15% of the price. The tax is declared and paid through the MyDec system run by the Illinois Department of Revenue, which generates the transfer declaration (Form PTAX-203) that accompanies the deed to the county recorder.

The arithmetic:

units      = ceil(sale price ÷ 500)     ← round UP to the next full $500
state tax  = units × $0.50
county tax = units × $0.25
municipal  = units × (local per-$500 rate, if any)
total      = state + county + municipal

Worked example: the same house, three locations

Take a $300,000 sale — 600 units of $500:

Rural or non-home-rule town: state $300 + county $150 = $450 total (0.15%).
A home-rule suburb charging $3.00 per $500: $450 + $1,800 municipal = $2,250 (0.75%).
Chicago at $5.25 per $500: $450 + $3,150 municipal = $3,600 (1.20%).

The location of the property, not its price, is what dominates the bill. Rounding also matters at the margin: a $300,001 price rounds up to 601 units, adding $0.75 (plus the municipal rate) versus a flat $300,000.

Chicago’s split: buyer portion and CTA portion

Chicago’s $5.25 per $500 municipal tax is actually two taxes. The buyer pays $3.75 per $500 (the City portion), and the seller pays $1.50 per $500 (the supplemental portion earmarked for the Chicago Transit Authority). On the $300,000 example, the buyer owes $2,250 and the seller $900 of the municipal amount, while the seller conventionally also covers the $450 of state and county stamps. The rates and split are set by city ordinance — see the City of Chicago real property transfer tax page. Note that a March 2024 referendum (“Bring Chicago Home”) that would have introduced graduated rates on sales above $1 million failed, so the flat $5.25 structure remained in place.

Who pays what, by convention

Illinois practice — always overridable by the purchase contract:

State + county stamps: seller pays.
Municipal tax: commonly the buyer, but it varies by ordinance. Some suburbs put it on the seller, some split it, and a few require a paid water bill or inspection certificate before issuing transfer stamps.
Exempt deals: both parties still file the declaration and claim the exemption code.

Because the municipal layer is ordinance-specific, title companies keep current rate sheets; verify the rate and the payer with your closer before relying on any calculator, this one included.

Exempt transfers under 35 ILCS 200/31-45

Common exemptions from the state and county tax include:

Deeds where the actual consideration is less than $100 (gifts)
Deeds that secure debt or release security (mortgages, releases)
Corrective deeds that fix a prior recording without new consideration
Transfers to or from governmental bodies
Certain transfers in bankruptcy or pursuant to court order
Deeds between related corporations in qualifying reorganizations

Municipal ordinances usually mirror these exemptions but not always exactly — Chicago, for instance, has its own exemption list and its own refund procedure for the CTA portion when a buyer is an eligible senior.

Edge cases that change the number

Assumed mortgages count as consideration. If the buyer assumes the seller’s $200,000 mortgage and pays $100,000 cash, the tax base is the full $300,000. Personal property carve-outs (appliances, furniture listed in the contract with a stated value) can legitimately reduce the taxed real estate consideration — but the declaration requires honest allocation. Trades and 1031 exchanges are taxed on each leg’s full consideration; the transfer tax has no like-kind deferral. New construction is taxed on the completed sale price, including upgrades rolled into the contract.

Transfer tax in the context of closing costs

The transfer stamps are one line on the settlement statement. An Illinois seller typically also pays title insurance, broker commission, attorney fees, and prorated property taxes; a buyer typically pays lender, appraisal, and recording fees. Transfer tax is the only one of these that scales strictly and predictably with price, which is why it is worth computing before you list or offer — on a $600,000 Chicago sale it is $7,200 of real money ($600 state + $300 county + $6,300 municipal).

Sources

Estimates only — confirm current municipal rates with the local recorder or your title company before closing. Nothing here is legal or tax advice.