Property Tax Calculators California

California Property Tax Calculator

California property tax under Proposition 13: 1% of assessed value plus your area's voter-approved debt rates, with yearly growth capped at 2% and a $7,000 homeowners' exemption.

Worked example, a $776,000 home bought this year as your residence: assessed value $776,000, less the $7,000 homeowners' exemption, times the 1% general levy = $7,690 a year ($641 a month) before the bond rates on your bill. Ten years on, the assessed value can have grown to at most $945,940, so that 1% levy is at most $9,389, whatever the market value.

By StateCalc Team

Updated Oct 22, 2026 Estimate — not official figures

Use Calculator Free — No Sign-up Instant Results Updated Oct 2026

Estimate only — these are not official figures

Proposition 13 as the Board of Equalization states it: 1% general levy on assessed value, base year value growing at most 2% a year, $7,000 homeowners' exemption; local voter-approved debt rates are entered by you.

Do not rely on these amounts for budgeting or payment. For exact amounts, check the county assessor (base year value, exemption) and tax collector (the bond rates on your bill).

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Enter Your Details

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Purchase Price (Base Year Value)

$10,000$20,000,000

Pre-filled: California median home value (Zillow, June 2026)

Years Since Purchase

060

Voter-Approved Debt Rate (from your tax bill)

03%

Principal Residence (Homeowners' Exemption)

Estimated Annual Property Tax

$7,690.00

Estimated • Based on your inputs

Estimated Monthly Property Tax

$640.83

Your effective tax rate is 1.0%.

Detailed Breakdown

Assessed Value (2%-a-Year Ceiling)$776,000.00

50%

Taxable Value After Exemption$769,000.00

50%

1% General Levy$7,690.00

Voter-Approved Debt Levy$0.00

Tax as % of Assessed Value0.99%

Disclaimer: This calculator provides estimates for informational purposes only. Results should not be considered financial, tax, or legal advice. Consult a qualified professional for your specific situation.

California Quick Facts

13.3% Income Tax Rate

0.70% Property Tax Rate

$100,149 Median Income

140.3 Cost of Living

How This Calculator Works

Calculation methodology and assumptions

California's rule, from the Board of Equalization (Publication 29, March 2025): a home is reassessed to market value only when it changes owner or is newly built, and that base year value then rises by no more than 2% a year. The bill is 1% of the assessed value plus the rates for voter-approved bonds in your tax rate area, after a $7,000 reduction for an owner's principal residence (filed once with the county assessor). This calculator applies the full 2% for every year you enter, so it shows the most the 1% levy can be; your notice can be lower. The 0.7% statewide figure on other pages is Census ACS 2024 taxes paid divided by home value (Tax Foundation), an average of older and newer purchases, not a rate.

Standard financial formulas Pre-filled with documented models and state context Estimates only — not financial advice

Data Source

California State Board of Equalization, Publication 29 (March 2025) and homeowners' exemption page

View Original Source | Source record reviewed Oct 22, 2026 | Review target: annually

Example Calculation

Let's estimate property taxes on a typical home in California.

Assume a home valued at $776,000 — California's typical home value. At California's statewide effective property tax rate of 0.7% — an aggregate figure (total taxes paid on owner-occupied homes ÷ total value of those homes, Census ACS 2024), not a local millage — the estimate below applies that rate to the full value. It does not subtract any exemption, because homestead, senior, veteran, and disability exemptions are granted locally and none is assumed here.

Result: That works out to roughly $5,432/year, or about $453/month, before any exemption you may qualify for. Property taxes are one of the largest ongoing costs of homeownership. Unlike a fixed-rate mortgage payment, they can increase annually as home values rise and local governments adjust mill rates — budget for 1–3% annual increases in most markets.

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StateCalc Team

Editorial Team

The StateCalc team builds free financial calculators using data from official government sources including the IRS, U.S. Census Bureau, BLS, and state revenue departments. All formulas are validated by an automated test suite and cross-referenced against published data.

Our editorial standards

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does a neighbor with the same house pay less in California?

Assessed value follows the purchase, not the market: a home bought years ago has grown at most 2% a year from its old price, while a recent buyer starts at today's price. At 1%, a $776,000 purchase owes $7,690 after the exemption; a home bought ten years ago for less owes 1% of its lower factored value.

What is on a California bill besides the 1%?

Rates for local general obligation bonds and school bonds approved by voters, which vary by tax rate area, plus any direct charges the county lists separately. Enter the combined bond rate from your bill above.

Who gets the $7,000 homeowners' exemption?

An owner whose home was the principal residence on January 1, after a one-time claim with the county assessor. Rentals and vacation homes do not qualify.

How does California's property tax compare to other states?

California's effective rate of 0.7% is the 19th-lowest of the 50 states, and below the national average of 0.94%. For reference, New Jersey and Illinois are the highest at 1.88%, and Hawaii is the lowest at 0.29%, followed by Alabama at 0.37%. All figures are the same aggregate Census ACS 2024 measure, so they are directly comparable.