What is California's base property tax rate?

Under Proposition 13, the base property tax rate is 1% of a property's assessed value. Counties then add voter-approved bonds, special assessments, and Mello-Roos charges, so the all-in effective rate is typically between 1.1% and 1.3% depending on your district.

How does Proposition 13 limit my taxes?

Prop 13 caps the assessed value at the purchase price and limits annual increases to 2% per year unless the property changes ownership or is newly built. This means long-time owners often pay tax on an assessed value far below current market value, keeping their bill low.

What is the California homeowners' exemption?

If the home is your principal residence, you can claim a $7,000 reduction in assessed value, which saves about $70 a year at the 1% base rate. You file form BOE-266 with your county assessor once, and it renews automatically while you live there.

Why might my actual tax bill be higher?

Many areas add Mello-Roos community facilities district fees, school and infrastructure bonds, and parcel taxes on top of the 1% base. These flat or per-parcel charges are not proportional to value and can add hundreds or thousands of dollars not captured by a simple percentage.

Is assessed value the same as market value?

No. Assessed value under Prop 13 is your base-year value (usually purchase price) increased by up to 2% annually. Market value is what the home would sell for today. For recent buyers the two are close; for long-time owners assessed value is often much lower.

California Property Tax Estimator

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This estimator calculates your California annual property tax using the Proposition 13 framework: a 1 percent base rate on assessed value, plus the local voter-approved assessments your county adds, minus the homeowners’ exemption if you claim it.

How it works

California property tax is anchored by Proposition 13. The core calculation is:

taxable value = assessed value − homeowners' exemption (if claimed)
annual tax    = taxable value × (1% base + local add-on rate)

The 1 percent base rate is fixed statewide. On top of it, counties levy voter-approved bonds and special assessments that usually push the effective rate to between 1.1 and 1.3 percent. The homeowners’ exemption removes 7,000 dollars from assessed value for your principal residence, worth about 70 dollars a year at the base rate.

Example

A home assessed at 600,000 dollars with the homeowners’ exemption has a taxable value of 593,000 dollars. At a combined rate of 1.15 percent the annual tax is about 6,820 dollars, or roughly 568 dollars a month set aside in escrow.

Notes

Assessed value is not market value — under Prop 13 it is your base-year value (typically purchase price) plus up to 2 percent a year. Mello-Roos community facilities fees and flat parcel taxes are not proportional to value and may add to your bill beyond this percentage-based estimate. Confirm the exact rate on your county assessor’s tax bill, which lists each line item.