Financial Health in Cook County: Why it Matters and How Policy Impacts Financial Well-Being

In 2025, The Chicago Community Trust, with support from JPMorganChase, commissioned the Financial Health Network to update the findings of its Financial Health Pulse® Chicago 2022 Report. Financial health reflects a household’s ability to meet daily needs, manage unexpected expenses, and build long-term security. Understanding how Chicagoans’ financial health changes over time can help stakeholders identify, shape, and refine programs and strategies that improve people’s financial well-being.

The Financial Health Pulse® 2025 Chicago Trends Report shows small but meaningful improvements in financial health for Chicago’s most vulnerable residents since 2022, due in part to city, county, and state investments. These gains are signs of progress and highlight the power of policy reforms to improve financial stability.

The Trust’s Learning & Impact (L&I) and Policy Change (PC) teams sat down to explore these findings.

L&I: How do reports like this help inform the work of the Trust’s Policy Change team?

PC: Achieving our vision of a more inclusive economy—where opportunity and prosperity are within reach for everyone—requires policy reforms that promote, rather than impede, economic mobility. It’s not enough just to pass legislation; we must see it through to implementation and track results. This report points to what may be working and where additional attention or reforms are needed. Reports like this offer insights that measure the impact of legislative victories and help us identify future policy opportunities that build on our incremental progress.

L&I: The report found that the number of households experiencing the greatest financial vulnerability decreased from 2022 to 2025, but that these gains are fragile. What policy reforms passed in recent years may have contributed to these results?

PC: Between 2022 and 2025, many post-pandemic economic recovery policies took effect that had significant benefits. From the local to the federal level, we saw several policy reforms—some temporary, some permanent—that provided financial relief for households, including expanded and enhanced Earned Income and Child Tax Credits, student loan and medical debt relief, direct cash assistance, and an increase in the state’s minimum wage. While we can’t say the data shows these policies directly resulted in the gains seen in the report, we believe they contributed to improved financial health among the city’s and county’s most financially vulnerable residents. Through policy reforms that address the various elements of financial health, we can realize the kinds of city- or county-wide improvements in financial well-being reflected in this report.

L&I: What policy reforms is the Trust advancing in 2026 that can help build on this progress?

PC: While we’re encouraged by the modest gains revealed in the report, we are also cautious that recent policy changes to federally funded public benefit programs, along with increasing strain on state and local government budgets, could hinder this momentum. We are committed to advancing policies that ensure everyone who is eligible for public benefits receives them. We continue to engage with a coalition working to reform the Cook County property tax sale system, with a focus on preserving homeownership and protecting homeowners’ equity as a primary means by which families build and pass on wealth to the next generation. To see continued progress at the population level, we will press for policies that enable all Chicagoans to afford household expenses, avoid costly debt, and build a cushion to weather future crises. This report provides additional insight into where we—and others—can focus our attention.

L&I: Housing affordability emerged as a key finding in the report, with Cook County homeownership rates below the national average. It also found that 77 percent of renters who want to own say buying a home today would be difficult. How is the Trust’s Policy Change team working to address this challenge?

PC: To truly address housing affordability and preserve homeownership as a primary way to increase individual and generational wealth for financially vulnerable residents, we must address several factors that contribute to the outcomes highlighted in this report. People need to earn enough income to acquire and sustain someplace to live. They also need to be able to afford the costs of homeownership, which requires access to affordable lending products, insurance, and property taxes. Top of mind are policies that reduce zoning and permitting barriers at the city level to preserve and expand the supply of homes for sale and rent that new and existing residents can afford. In partnership with our Community Impact colleagues and grant partners, we are investing in research, pilots, programs, task forces, and coalitions to identify policy solutions that bring innovative and lasting approaches to expanding housing availability, reducing housing costs, and alleviating financial strain on Chicagoans. The Financial Health Pulse® 2025 Chicago Trends Report underscores how data-informed policy, sustained investment, and a commitment to reform can help turn fragile gains into lasting financial stability for communities across Cook County.

To learn more about report and its key findings, visit the Financial Health Pulse^® 2025 Chicago Trends Report page.