The “Looking Glass” ponders economic and real estate trends through two distinct lenses: the optimist’s “glass half-full” and the pessimist’s “glass half-empty.”
Buzz: California property tax bills – as a slice of a home’s value – look low on a national yardstick.
Source: My trusty spreadsheet reviewed 2022 property tax payments for single-family homes in 188 counties with 100,000 residences, as compiled by real estate data tracker Attom.
Debate: How much can Californians complain about their property taxes when Proposition 13 limits big jumps in valuations used to calculate these government levies?
Glass half-full
Six of California’s big counties were among 50 of the 188 with the lowest average “effective” property tax rates last year – that’s tax bills as a share of the property’s value. San Mateo was 32nd highest of the 188 at 0.58%, Santa Clara, No. 34 at 0.59%, Orange, No. 36 at 0.60%, San Diego, No. 40 at 0.62%, Los Angeles, No. 45 at 0.65%, and Alameda, No. 49 at 0.66%.
These low rates are tied to long-term homeowners whose home valuations go up no more than 2% a year. Recent California buyers pay far higher taxes based on purchase prices that have grown far more than 2% annually.
Here are the average effective tax rates of other big California counties: Ventura (No. 51) at 0.66%, San Bernardino (No. 54) at 0.68%, Tulare (No. 63) at 0.72%, Stanislaus (No. 66) at 0.73%, Sonoma (No. 68) at 0.74%, Contra Costa (No. 74) at 0.75%, Sacramento (No. 76) at 0.76%, San Joaquin (No. 77) at 0.77%, Fresno (No. 82) at 0.79%, Solano (No. 84) at 0.79%, Placer (No. 92) at 0.83%, Riverside (No. 93) at 0.84%, and Kern (No. 106) at 0.95%.
By the way, the national effective rate was 0.83%.
Glass half-empty
Due to lofty home values in most parts of the state, those low effective rates mask the huge checks Californians write for their property values.
Nine California counties ranked among the top 50 with the largest property tax bills in 2022: San Mateo (No. 4 of the 188) at $12,266, Santa Clara (No. 5) at $11,932, Alameda (No. 19) at $8,887, Contra Costa (No. 21) at $8,300, Orange (No. 23) at $7,983, Los Angeles (No. 29) at $7,305, San Diego (No. 34) at $7,100, Sonoma (No. 48) at $6,512 and Ventura (No. 49) at $6,441.
Three counties near New York City had the biggest tax bills: New Jersey’s Essex ($13,168) and Bergen ($13,115) and New York’s Nassau ($12,890).
It’s noteworthy that four big California counties had tax bills below the U.S. average of $3,901 – Stanislaus (No. 118) at $3,535, Kern (No. 126) at $3,304, Fresno (No. 132) at $3,257 and Tulare (No. 163) at $2,382.
Tax bills in other big California counties: Placer (No. 51 of 188) at $6,271, Riverside (No. 61) at $5,524, Solano (No. 78) at $4,944, San Joaquin (No. 91) at $4,383, Sacramento (No. 92) at $4,348, San Bernardino (No. 106) at $3,976.
Bottom Line
Californians cannot gripe too harshly about their real estate taxes.
The statewide effective tax rate of 0.66% of a home’s value ranks 31st among the states. But the tax bill itself, averaging $6,492 across the state, was sixth highest in the nation.
Those tax bills are not terribly far off from economic rival Texas with its 1.25% rate (No. 9) and $4,822 bill (No. 10).
But ponder Florida’s 0.67% rate (No. 27) and $4,085 bill (No. 12).Or look a low property taxes in neighboring states popular with ex-Californians:Nevada – 0.44% rate (No. 40) and $2,521 bill (No. 30) – and Arizona – 0.39% rate (No. 43) and $2,220 bill (No. 32).
Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com
