The City of Rockford shows up on the county's 2025 tax-code report at 1.7403 per 100 dollars of taxable value, and that line is present in all 55 of the Rockford tax codes. Loves Park and Machesney Park show 0.0000 for their municipal line in every code that names them, which is 32 codes for Loves Park and 23 for Machesney Park. So the plain answer is that Rockford carries a city property tax line and the other two do not, and the county's own report is the document that proves it.

Gambino Realtors has been in business since 1923, and this guide stays with rules and facts, not opinions about neighborhoods. If you are looking at addresses on our Rockford real estate listings, the three municipal lines below are worth reading before a showing. We do not rank the three places. A combined rate is only half of a bill, because the taxable value of the particular house is the other half, and the report does not say anything about house values.

The numbers come from the Winnebago County Clerk's 2025 District Rates by Tax Code report, run on March 30, 2026, and from the county's municipal rate list, its district listing, its equalization factors and the Treasurer's own pages. The Loves Park and Machesney Park statements come from those two municipalities' own sites. Every figure here was read from those pages on October 13, 2026.

The Municipal Line, Side By Side

Start with the lines that answer the question directly. The table below uses only what the county report and the municipal pages state, and each cell was counted or read directly.

Read the first row as the answer and everything below it as context. In all three places the county, the forest preserve and the community college lines are the same numbers, 0.6300, 0.0797 and 0.4557. What changes is the city line and the set of other bodies that attach to each address.

Now consider what each municipality says for itself. The City of Loves Park's Treasurer page states that the city "does not levy or collect a municipal property tax," that the municipal line item on a Loves Park bill shows zero dollars, and that this has been true since 1978. The Village of Machesney Park's history page says the village "is proud to levy no municipal property tax." The village's audited financial report for the year ended April 30, 2025 says the same thing in accounting language. It adds two details that explain why a zero line is not the same as no money. The village receives one half of the Road and Bridge tax levied by Harlem and Rockford townships on property inside the village, and it receives incremental property taxes in the TIF districts it established.

Rockford's side is a figure, not a statement. The county's 2025 listing by district type shows the City of Rockford line at 1.7403, with a Total EAV of 2,900,413,991 and a Total County Extended amount of about 48.2 million dollars. The same listing shows Loves Park City and Machesney Park Village each at 0.0000 and each extended at nothing. The county pages read for this guide carry no separate statement about Rockford, so the report itself is the source.

The county's municipal rate list for 2025 also shows that all three combined rates fell from 2024. Rockford went from 9.4764 to 8.8290, Loves Park from 8.2705 to 7.9659 and Machesney Park from 7.9615 to 7.6745. Those are rates for one reference tax code in each place, not forecasts, and the report does not say what a bill will do next year.

What Fills The Bill When The City Line Is Zero

The Winnebago County Treasurer's FAQ explains why rates differ so widely inside one county. Every parcel sits inside a specific combination of taxing bodies, and the rate varies because the number of taxing bodies attached to each parcel varies. The county calls each combination a tax code. So the city line is one piece, and the pieces around it are what separate one address from the next.

Here is how the surrounding pieces count up. The Rockford Park District line, 0.7573, appears in 44 of the 55 Rockford codes, in 26 of the 32 Loves Park codes and in 2 of the 23 Machesney Park codes.

Townships behave the same way. In the Rockford codes, the Rockford Township line (0.0769) appears in 40 of 55, with Owen Township in 7, Cherry Valley Township in 4, and Burritt and Winnebago townships in 2 each. In the Loves Park codes, Harlem Township (0.0835) appears in 21 and Rockford Township in 11. In the Machesney Park codes, Harlem Township appears in 19, Owen Township in 3 and Roscoe Township in 1. A township road line appears alongside. Harlem Township Road is 0.0359 and Rockford Township Road is 0.0949.

Rockford School District 205 is 4.5043 and Harlem School District 122 is 5.5075. In the Rockford codes, District 205 appears in 47 and Winnebago Unit District 323 in 5, with Harlem 122, Meridian 223 and Pecatonica Unit 321 in one code each. In the Loves Park codes, Harlem 122 and Rockford 205 each appear in 16. In the Machesney Park codes, Harlem 122 appears in 14, Rockford 205 in 7, and Rockton District 140 and Hononegah High School District 207 in 2 each. This guide does not describe or judge any school.

The fire district line is where Machesney Park stands apart in the report. No fire district line appears in any of the 55 Rockford codes or the 32 Loves Park codes. Every one of the 23 Machesney Park codes carries one. Harlem-Roscoe Fire (0.5868) is in 16 of them, North Park Fire (0.4659) in 4, Northwest Fire (0.4612) in 2 and Rockton Fire (0.5368) in 1. The village's own history page names three of those districts as regional partners for emergency services. The county report does not show a fire line for Rockford or Loves Park, and we do not read anything into that beyond what the report lists.

TIF lines show up in all three places and all of them sit at 0.0000. The Treasurer's Tax Information page explains the idea. A TIF listing means the property is in a tax increment financing district. The revenue comes from the increase in assessed value since the district was created, and it can only fund projects inside the district. For questions about a specific district, the Treasurer points people to the local government that sponsors it. A TIF line at 0.0000 is information about where the property sits, and it is not a surcharge.

Why Two Addresses In One Town Can Land Far Apart

Because the other bodies vary, two addresses inside the same municipality can have different combined rates even though the city line is identical. Take the lowest and highest Rockford codes in the 2025 report. Code 131 totals 7.9588 and code 021 totals 9.8322. In both, the City of Rockford is 1.7403, the county is 0.6300, the forest preserve is 0.0797 and the Rockford City Library is 0.3019. The difference comes from what else is attached. Code 021 adds the Rockford Park District at 0.7573 and Four Rivers at 0.1129, and its school line is Harlem School District 122 at 5.5075. Code 131 has neither of the first two, and its school line is Rockford 205 at 4.5043.

The same pattern holds in the other two places. Loves Park code 012 totals 6.0925 and has no park district or sanitation authority line, while code 002 totals 8.0183 and carries both along with the Harlem school line. Machesney Park code 108 totals 6.6793 with Harlem-Roscoe Fire and Rockford 205, and code 152 totals 8.5527 with the same fire line plus the Rockford Park District, Four Rivers and Harlem 122. The ranges in the table overlap, so the town name alone does not fix the combined rate. The two school lines named here differ by 1.0032, which is 5.5075 minus 4.5043.

That is why a comparison by town name alone can mislead. If someone tells you Rockford is higher or lower than a neighboring place, ask which tax code they mean. The combined rate for a specific house is the one printed on that parcel's bill. The Treasurer's home page offers a "View or Pay Bill" option online, and the Treasurer's office can answer questions about a bill.

Then comes the second half of the formula. The Treasurer's "Understanding Your Bill" page says the tax is calculated by dividing the taxable value by 100 and multiplying by the rate. As a plain illustration of the arithmetic, 10,000 dollars of taxable value at 1.7403 on the city line alone produces 174.03 dollars. At the combined rate for Rockford's code 001, 8.8290, the same 10,000 dollars of taxable value produces 882.90 dollars. At Loves Park's code 006 rate of 7.9659 it produces 796.59 dollars, and at Machesney Park's code 144 rate of 7.6745 it produces 767.45 dollars. Those are demonstrations of the formula and nothing more.

Taxable value comes from the assessor. The Treasurer's page explains that the township assessor sets the assessed value, that the Supervisor of Assessments applies a multiplier called an equalization factor so assessment levels are similar among townships, and that for most properties the resulting value should be one-third of fair market value on January 1 of the tax year. The county's 2025 equalization factors list Rockford Township at 1.1143 and Harlem Township at 1.0996. The percentage change depends on which township the property is in, which is one more reason the township line on a bill is worth noticing. The Treasurer's office states that it has nothing to do with the amount of taxes owed, so questions about an assessed value go to the township assessor.

Exemptions change the taxable value, and the Supervisor of Assessments handles all exemption questions at (815) 319-4460. Our guide to Winnebago County homestead exemptions in Rockford walks through what the county lists.

Winnebago County bills a year in the rear. The 2025 bills were mailed in early May 2026, with installments due June 12 and September 11, 2026. The first installment must be at least half. Late payments add 1.5 percent a month, starting one day after the due date, and the county does not accept partial payments. If you are buying, check the proration line on your settlement statement. For the fuller mechanics of a Rockford bill, read how a Rockford property tax bill is built.

Each of the other two places has its own guide with the full list of lines for its codes. The Loves Park piece, Loves Park property taxes: what is on your bill, and the Machesney Park piece, Machesney Park property taxes: what is on your bill, go line by line through the codes summarized above. Use them when you have an address in hand and want to see the full list of lines for its codes.

Bottom Line

Rockford levies a city property tax, and the county's 2025 report shows it at 1.7403 in all 55 Rockford codes. Loves Park and Machesney Park levy none, and the report shows 0.0000 for each in every code that names them. That is the whole answer to the municipal question, and the Loves Park and Machesney Park pages say the same for themselves.

It is only one line of a bill. A zero does not tell you the total. The library, the park district, the sanitation authority, the township, the fire district and the school district all vary by address, and the combined rate can differ more inside one town than between towns. Find the parcel, read the tax code, and confirm the line items with the Winnebago County Treasurer before closing.

When you are ready to compare real addresses, start with our Rockford real estate listings, then pull the tax code for any house you like. Our Illinois Real Estate Guide links every Gambino Realtors article on taxes, flood rules, zoning and closing costs in one place. This guide is information, not legal, tax or financial advice, so confirm the specifics of any property with the Winnebago County Treasurer, the township assessor and your closing professional.

Here are short answers to the questions this comparison raises, each tied to the same county pages used above.

Frequently Asked Questions