The Senior Freeze (formally the Low-Income Senior Citizens Assessment Freeze Homestead Exemption) locks a qualifying homeowner's equalized assessed value at the level of a base year, so later reassessments cannot raise the taxable value. It is the most valuable exemption a Cook County senior can hold in a reassessment year, and the one most often lost, because unlike the Senior Exemption it must be applied for every year.
Who qualifies
- Age: 65 or older during the tax year. For the 2025 tax year, born in 1960 or earlier.
- Income: total household income of $65,000 or less for the prior calendar year (2024 income for the 2025 tax year), rising to $75,000 for the 2026 tax year. Household means everyone living in the home, and income includes Social Security, pensions, wages, interest and dividends.
- Residence: you owned, or had a legal or equitable interest in, the home and lived in it as your principal residence on January 1 of the tax year and of the year before.
- A separate exemption: the Freeze is its own application, apart from the Senior Exemption, and a qualifying senior can hold both.
The income limit, year by year
| Tax year | Income counted | Household income limit |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2024 | $65,000 |
| 2026 | 2025 | $75,000 |
| 2027 | 2026 | $77,000 |
| 2028 and later | the year before | $79,000 |
The limits are set by state law (Public Act 104-0452).
What it does, and does not, do
It freezes the equalized assessed value, the number the tax rate is applied to, at the base-year level. Your bill can still rise if the tax rate rises, because the Freeze does not freeze levies, and it can fall if the rate falls. It does not reduce the value below the base; it stops it climbing. In a reassessment year like 2026 in the south and west suburbs, where median assessments rose 20–27%, a senior on the Freeze keeps the old base while neighbors absorb the increase.
Stacked with the other senior relief: the Senior Exemption removes $8,000 of equalized value (no income limit, renews automatically once granted), the Homeowner Exemption removes $10,000, and the Freeze holds the remainder at the base year.
You must apply every year
The Assessor's rule is explicit: the Senior Freeze does not renew automatically, because it is income-tested; a new application with income documentation is required each year. The Senior Exemption and Homeowner Exemption renew on their own. Applications are filed with the Cook County Assessor, online or on paper, during the filing period the Assessor announces early each year. The 2025 filing period has closed. A senior who qualified and did not file can still apply through a Certificate of Error, for any of the tax years 2021 through 2025, and the Treasurer refunds the difference on bills already paid. See how a Certificate of Error works.
What to send with the application
The Assessor asks for three things:
- Proof of age, identity and that you live there: a photo ID showing the property's address (an Illinois driver's license or ID card, a Matrícula Consular or a City of Chicago ID), with the occupancy affidavit built into the application. If your ID shows a different address, send another photo ID and one document showing you lived in the home that year, such as a bank statement or a utility bill.
- Proof that you owe the tax, only if you are not on the recorded deed: for example a trust agreement, a lease or a contract for deed.
- Your household income for the prior year. If you were enrolled that year in SNAP, LIHEAP, AABD, the Benefit Access Program or the Senior Citizens Real Estate Tax Deferral Program, proof of enrollment replaces the income section.
If you had the Freeze last year, use the Assessor's renewal application. It starts from last year's filing, so you only update what changed.
If the homeowner has died. The home can still receive the Freeze for a year if the owner was alive and living there as their main home on January 1 of that year. A spouse or child applies, with the Assessor's affidavit for a deceased taxpayer and a copy of the death certificate.
Freeze plus appeal: they work together
The Freeze holds your equalized value where it is. An appeal lowers the assessed value underneath it. The two are not alternatives: a senior on the Freeze whose home is assessed above comparable homes can appeal, and a successful appeal in a reassessment year lowers the value the Freeze is measured against. What an appeal cannot do is fix a missing exemption, and what the Freeze cannot do is correct an assessment that was already too high in the base year. If you have the Senior Freeze, an appeal may lower your bill by less than it lowers your assessment. We check this before we file, and our fee is 25% of the first-year savings that reach your bill.
Checklist
- Confirm age, income for the prior year, and January 1 residence for both years.
- Look at the second-installment bill due October 1: the Senior Exemption and Senior Freeze print on it. If the Freeze is missing and you qualified, file a Certificate of Error.
- Diary the Assessor's filing period for the next tax year and file the Freeze application with proof of income every year.
- In a reassessment year, check the assessment itself with the free property check and, if it is out of line with comparable homes, appeal before the township window closes.
Eligibility rules are from the Cook County Assessor's Senior Freeze page as of October 30, 2026, and the income limits from Public Act 104-0452. For the full picture of senior relief, including the Senior Exemption and how the programs stack, see Senior property tax relief in Cook County.
