Jim Houlihan was raised to be a public servant, but he never thought he’d be the Cook County Assessor. 

“Nobody ever grows up wanting to be the Tax Man,” Houlihan said.  

He attended Quigley Preparatory Seminar before attending and graduating from St. Mary of the Lake Seminary with a B.A. in Philosophy and an S.T.B. in Theology in 1967. Jim was heading for the priesthood when his career took a sharp turn. He volunteered for the presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy and found out he liked politics. Like many young people at that moment in history, Jim Houlihan was transformed by the power of the issues coming to the surface in American society during the Civil Rights Movement. 

“I wanted to be part of change,” he said. “I could feel something big happening and I wanted to be in the middle of it.” 

Jim served three terms in the Illinois State Legislature and was administrative assistant to Chicago Mayor Harold Washington before becoming Cook County Assessor in 1997. He has never lost sight of the theological values that launched him into his career, but he knows how the system works too. 

“What I realized downstate was that you have to keep your eye on the prize and be patient. Sooner or later you actually do get your chance to change what’s going on in the system.” 

Becoming Cook County Assessor has given Jim Houlihan the chance to work at developing tax fairness for all the county’s residents. He is a strong believer in coalition politics, seeking to build bridges between communities with common needs and comparable issues. 

Jim is a champion of reforming tax policy at the state level to correct funding inequities in the education system. At the local level, he has been Cook County’s most innovative assessor, working to protect homeowners with sound policy while at the same time assuring that his own office works with greater clarity and transparency. 

A lifelong practitioner of open and inclusive government, Jim Houlihan will continue to make the Cook County Assessor’s Office a more modern, accessible and efficient provider of public services. Jim Houlihan has focused on developing an office that prides itself on accuracy and fairness. He has been recognized widely as having brought legitimacy and accountability to a public office once associated with secrecy and political maneuvering.  

Jim currently lives on Chicago’s north side with his wife, Anne Tighe.