What happens to property tax when you buy in Santa Clara 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 $10,000/yr (on the $1,490,600 county-median home).

Estimated bill by your purchase price

Purchase priceEstimated annual taxvs typical bill
$1,490,600$10,000/yr+$0/yr
$1,863,250$12,501/yr+$2,501/yr
$2,235,900$15,001/yr+$5,001/yr

Effective rate: 0.6709% · Tier 1 · Confidence: Medium. Reassessment toward the sale price modeled from the jurisdiction's assessment basis.

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) · Santa Clara County property tax overview