Union County, IL Property Records: Search Deeds, Owners, Tax Records, and Maps

Union County property records cover roughly 9,000 parcels across a mid-size county with Jonesboro as the seat. Three offices split the work. The County Clerk doubles as Recorder of Deeds. The Supervisor of Assessments handles parcel data, and the Treasurer handles tax bills.

Union County's housing market is made up mostly of single-family homes. These houses are concentrated in Anna, Jonesboro, Cobden, and Dongola. Listed homes in the county typically stay on the market for 80 to 110 days before selling. The county's unique location near the Shawnee National Forest supports a local economy driven by agriculture, orchards, vineyards, and tourism.

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How to Look Up Union County Property Records

Union County property records are accessible online through three county portals. The Clerk’s Land Records Document Search (Laredo) provides access to recorded documents, the Supervisor of Assessments portal covers assessments and ownership, and the Property Tax Inquiry system covers tax bills and payment history. Older land documents are typically available in physical copies. Call the County Clerk at (618) 833-5711 for inquiries on available historical records and fees. You may also visit the Union County Courthouse in Jonesboro for in-person requests.

Who Keeps Union County Property Records

The Illinois system pushes property recordkeeping down to Union County under the Freedom of Information Act (5 ILCS 140) and the Property Tax Code (35 ILCS 200). Three separate offices in the county handle the work:

• The Supervisor of Assessments sets assessed values for every parcel, processes the homestead-exemption applications that reduce tax bills, and updates the parcel database that the Treasurer relies on.

• The County Clerk and Recorder keeps the searchable index of all recorded property documents in Union County. The County Clerk and Recorder is a single elected office, a common consolidation in lower-volume counties.

• The County Treasurer mails the annual tax bills, processes payments, runs the annual tax sale, and handles redemption from tax buyers.

Union County was organized in 1818 and is one of the original Illinois counties. Jonesboro hosted the third Lincoln-Douglas debate in 1858.

How to Search Union County Property Records Online

The most reliable way to research a Union County property is to hit all three offices' portals and cross-check what each one says. The Assessor's portal gives you ownership and valuation; the Recorder's portal gives you the recorded chain of title; the Treasurer's portal gives you the tax bill.

1. Open the Supervisor of Assessments portal. Search by address, by owner's last name, or by PIN if you have it. The result shows ownership, assessed value, sales history, exemption status, and the property's class designation under 35 ILCS 200.

2. Move to the Treasurer's office portal. Tax bills, payment history, and taxing-district breakdowns are all there. Delinquent parcels are flagged.

3. For deeds and other recorded documents, use the County Clerk and Recorder's search. Most Union County searches accept grantor name, grantee name, document number, PIN, or date range. Some counties offer free guest access; others use Tapestry or Laredo for paid full access.

4. Build the chain of title by starting at the current deed and tracing back. Each grantor in the chain should match the grantee on the previous deed. Gaps usually mean missing records that a title company will need to research.

5. For parcel mapping, the county GIS portal is the source. Layers include parcels, zoning, school districts, voting precincts, and floodplains. Aerial imagery is usually available at multiple recent dates.

Assessor: Ownership, Values, and Parcel Data

The Supervisor of Assessments' office values every parcel in Union County. For homeowners, the relevant output is the equalized assessed value, which combined with the local tax rates determines the annual tax bill.

County Clerk and Recorder: Deeds, Mortgages, and Liens

The County Clerk and Recorder's office is the public registry for title documents in Union County. The office records, indexes, and makes available every deed, mortgage, lien, and related instrument affecting real property in the county.

Treasurer: Tax Bills and Payments

Tax-bill work in Union County runs through the Treasurer's office. The office bills property taxes annually, accepts payments, conducts the annual tax sale, and handles owner redemptions after a sale.

Property Tax in Union County: Rates, Exemptions, and Appeals

Property tax in Union County works the same way as in most Illinois counties: a third-of-market-value assessment ratio, state equalization, statutory exemptions, then a stack of taxing-district rates. The local detail is in which exemption tiers apply and what the township assessor structure looks like.

Homestead exemptions

Several homestead exemptions reduce the equalized assessed value before the tax rates apply. These are the most commonly used in Union County:

• General Homestead Exemption: Up to $6,000 EAV reduction for owner-occupied homes (35 ILCS 200/15-175). Union County uses the baseline tier (applicable in most Illinois counties) under the three-tier statutory structure.

• Senior Homestead Exemption: Up to $5,000 EAV reduction for owners 65 and older under 35 ILCS 200/15-170.

• Senior Citizens Assessment Freeze: Freezes assessed value at a base year for seniors with household income at or below $75,000 (indexed to CPI from 2026).

• Disabled Veterans Standard Homestead: Tiered by VA disability rating: $2,500 EAV at 30-49%, $5,000 at 50-69%, full exemption at 70%+.

• Persons with Disabilities and Home Improvement: $2,000 EAV reduction for permanent disability; separate four-year exemption shielding up to $75,000 of improvement value.

Appealing an assessment

The Illinois two-step appeal process applies in Union County. The Board of Review hears the first round (30-day filing window after the notice). The Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board hears the second round on appeal from the Board's decision.

GIS Maps and Parcel Viewer

The county GIS layers cover what most Union County researchers need: parcel boundaries, zoning, floodplains, school districts, and aerial imagery. The interactive viewer is free; most layers are also available as downloads.

• County GIS portal: The county's web GIS layers parcels, zoning, and floodplains with recent aerial imagery for Union County.

• Illinois Geological Survey clearinghouse: The state-level ISGS clearinghouse hosts statewide layers including soil, hydrology, and DEM data.

Foreclosure and the Annual Tax Sale

Two distinct foreclosure-style processes affect Union County property. Mortgage foreclosures are judicial in Illinois, run through the Circuit Court under 735 ILCS 5/15-1101. Tax-delinquency foreclosures run through the Treasurer's annual tax sale under 35 ILCS 200, Article 21.

Annual tax sale

Each year, the Treasurer publishes a list of tax-delinquent parcels and conducts a public tax sale. Buyers bid the penalty rate down from 9%; the lowest rate wins. The winning buyer gets a tax certificate (a lien claim, not title).

Right of redemption

Property owners have two to two-and-a-half years to redeem after the tax sale, under 35 ILCS 200/21-345. Redemption requires paying the original taxes, the penalty interest at the bid rate (compounded every six months), tax-buyer costs, and any subsequent taxes the buyer paid.

Scavenger sales

Properties three+ years tax-delinquent that didn't clear at the annual sale go to the biennial scavenger sale. Scavenger bidding uses dollar amounts (not interest rates), which produces a different bidder dynamic.

Costs to Access Property Records

Looking up Union County property records online is free across all three county offices. Fees apply when you need a copy of a recorded document or are filing a new document for recording.

Illinois moved most counties to a single flat fee per document class in 2019. Union County operates under that Predictable Fee Schedule, codified at 55 ILCS 5/3-5018.1. Non-conforming documents – wrong paper, wrong margins, missing data – incur the doubled penalty fee.

Real-estate transfer taxes add to the recording cost. The state charges $0.50 per $500 of consideration; Union County adds $0.25 per $500. Outside Chicago and selected suburbs, no municipal transfer tax applies in most cases.

How to Record a Document

Document recording in Union County follows four steps. The path applies whether you're filing a deed, mortgage release, lien, or any other instrument affecting title:

1. Verify the document is properly formatted: Under 55 ILCS 5/3-5018.2, documents need 8.5"x11" white paper at 20-lb or better, black ink only, half-inch margins all around, and a blank 3"x5" space in the upper-right corner of page one for the recording stamp.

2. Calculate the recording fee from the county's Predictable Fee Schedule: Non-conforming documents are charged double under 55 ILCS 5/3-5018.1, so making sure your document meets formatting requirements saves money.

3. For property-transfer documents, complete the PTAX-203 through Illinois MyDec before filing: The MyDec submission produces a stamp number that goes on the deed. Union County participates in MyDec like all Illinois counties.

4. File at the County Clerk and Recorder: in person at 309 W Market St., Room 116, Jonesboro, IL 62952, by mail with check or money order, or via an e-recording vendor (Simplifile and CSC handle most Union County electronic filings). Recording typically completes within two to three business days.

The recording number assigned by the office becomes the permanent locator for the document. Note it down. Any future title search or document copy request uses this number as the primary lookup key.

FAQs

Quick Reference: Your Union County Property Records Checklist

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Key Contacts and Official Portals