Village, Not City – And Which County Line Runs Through Your Address
Every ordinance, tax bill, and public notice in Montgomery is filed under “Village of Montgomery,” incorporated in 1858. Illinois treats villages and cities under separate sections of municipal law, though the practical stakes for a resident sit in jurisdiction and services. The village’s own government page states plainly that Montgomery spans two counties and four townships, and residents of both counties register to vote at the same Village Hall. Treat “Montgomery” as two overlapping tax and school jurisdictions filed under one address book.
How do I find out which county my Montgomery address is in? The village’s government page lists both counties and points residents to each county’s assessor site. Kane County addresses cluster closest to the Fox River’s west bank and Kendall County addresses to the south and east, but the boundary isn’t a straight visual line, so the assessor lookup is the reliable check, not a guess from the map.
What It Costs, and Why the Number Depends on Which Side of the Line You’re On
The Kane County portion of Montgomery carries a meaningfully lower effective property tax rate than the Kendall County portion, and the gap traces to different school-levy structures on each side of the boundary.
| County portion | Effective tax rate | Median home value used | Median tax bill | 25th pct. bill | 90th pct. bill | Assessment notice arrives |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kane County (Montgomery) | 2.46% | $201,852 | $5,050 | $3,635 | $8,773 | Mid-April |
| Kendall County (Montgomery) | 2.82% | Not published separately by Ownwell | $5,984 | $5,040 | $9,062 | Mid-May |
Source: Ownwell, Kane County and Ownwell, Kendall County.
A household at the Kendall County side’s median bill of $5,984 pays $934 more a year than one at the Kane County side’s median of $5,050, before any exemption or levy swing is factored in.
Is the property tax rate the same everywhere in Montgomery? No. The applicable rate depends on which side of the county line the parcel sits on. The 60538 ZIP code spans both counties and does not indicate which one applies to a given parcel.
Schools: District Assignment Depends on Address
Montgomery families fall into one of five districts, assigned by parcel according to the boundary map the village publishes: West Aurora 129, East Aurora 131, Oswego CUSD 308, Yorkville CUSD 115, and Kaneland CUSD 302.
| District | General area served | Size / grade note |
|---|---|---|
| West Aurora SD 129 | Kane County side, bordering Aurora and North Aurora | K–12 unit district; its southern boundary is the Kane–Kendall county line |
| East Aurora SD 131 | Small footprint touching Montgomery’s Kane County edge | 13 square miles; describes itself as the 13th-largest district in Illinois |
| Oswego CUSD 308 | Kendall County side | 22 schools, about 18,000 students as of a 2012 count (dated figure) |
| Yorkville CUSD 115 | Southwest edge of the village | Ranked among Niche’s top 50 Illinois districts |
| Kaneland CUSD 302 | Far western edge | 7 schools, about 3,939 students per Niche |
A Montgomery address five blocks away can sit in a different district with a different calendar and levy, so the district assigned to a specific parcel needs checking against the village’s boundary map before trusting a listing’s advertised school name.
Which school district will my kids be assigned to? The village publishes a boundary map that assigns each parcel to one of the five districts. A listing’s neighborhood name does not determine the assignment, so check the map against the specific address before assuming.
Getting to Chicago Without a Station Inside the Village
Commuters from Montgomery drive to the Aurora Transportation Center, the BNSF Line’s western terminus, or to the Route 59 station on the Aurora–Naperville border, since no Metra platform sits inside village limits. Route 59 is Metra’s busiest non-downtown station, with an average of 6,339 weekday boardings recorded in 2018 and 67 weekday trains as of September 8, 2025.
A decades-studied option would end that drive: Metra’s Kendall Extension Study has, since 2019, evaluated a station at the former Lyon Metal manufacturing site on the Kane County side of the tracks, alongside proposed stops in Oswego, Yorkville, Plano, and Sandwich, at an estimated $400 million to $700 million in combined capital cost. Kendall County sits outside the six-county Regional Transportation Authority service area entirely, so extending Metra service there needs a change in state law before it needs a dollar of construction money.
Is Montgomery going to get its own Metra station? The Kendall Extension Study has evaluated a station at the former Lyon Metal site since 2019, but funding is incomplete and the RTA service-area boundary would need a state-law change first. No construction timeline exists.
Which Line Matters Most for Your Decision
The lower tax rate sits on Kane County-side parcels near the Fox River’s west bank. Cross-check the village’s boundary map against the exact parcel before trusting a subdivision’s marketing name for schools. Commute distance offers no edge either way: both sides drive the same distance to the Aurora Transportation Center or Route 59.
Leave a Reply