What happens to property tax when you buy in Merced County, California?
Why your bill can jump at purchase
California uses an acquisition-value basis (California Proposition 13 (BOE)): your assessed value is set at purchase and grows under an annual cap of 2%.
Current owners here pay a typical bill of about $2,634/yr (on the $391,800 county-median home).
Estimated bill by your purchase price
| Purchase price | Estimated annual tax | vs typical bill |
|---|---|---|
| $391,800 | $2,634/yr | +$0/yr |
| $489,750 | $3,293/yr | +$659/yr |
| $587,700 | $3,951/yr | +$1,317/yr |
Effective rate: 0.67% · Tier 1 · Confidence: Medium. Reassessment toward the sale price modeled from the jurisdiction's assessment basis.
How Merced County compares before reassessment
Merced County ranks 41 of 58 published California counties by effective property-tax rate.
The county's 0.67% effective rate is 0.03 percentage points below the California published-county average of 0.7%.
The $391,800 median home value ranks 40 of 58 and is $89,300 below the California county median of $481,100.
Similar-rate counties
- Santa Clara County: 0.67% effective rate; $1,490,600 median home value
- San Diego County: 0.68% effective rate; $854,700 median home value
- Ventura County: 0.68% effective rate; $822,700 median home value
Source, method & confidence
Data as of 2024-12-31 (data version 2024.1).
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year, table B25103; U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year, table B25077; California State Board of Equalization, Proposition 13.
How we model reassessment (methodology) · California reassessment guide · Merced County property tax overview