Property Tax 101

The median property tax (also known as real estate tax) in Santa Clara County is $4,694.00 per year, based on a median home value of $701,000.00 and a median effective property tax rate of 0.67% of property value.

Santa Clara County collects very high property taxes, and is among the top 25% of counties in the United States ranked by property tax collections. Of the fifty-eight counties in California, Santa Clara County is ranked 2nd by median property taxes, and 14th by median tax as percentage of home value.

Santa Clara County's higher property taxes are partially due to property values, as the median home value in Santa Clara County is $701,000.00. For comparison, the state-wide median property value is $384,200.00

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2nd out of 58 By median yearly property tax

14th out of 58 By percentage of median home value

2nd out of 58 By percentage of median income

You can see how Santa Clara County (highlighted in green) compares to the fifty-eight other counties in California with the bar chart above, sorted by median property tax in dollars. For a visual map of county property tax rates in California, see our California county property tax map.

Remember: Real estate prices also play a large part in which California counties have the highest and lowest median property taxes. Higher-valued properties will generally have higher taxes, even if the median percentage of home value levied as property tax is different. For comparisons, you can also use Percentage Of Home Value.

Property tax assessments in Santa Clara County are the responsibility of the Santa Clara County Tax Assessor, whose office is located in San Jose, California.

If you need to pay your property tax bill, ask about a property tax assessment, look up the Santa Clara County property tax due date, or find property tax records, visit the Santa Clara County Tax Assessor's page. Applications for the Santa Clara County homestead exemption, any property tax appeals, and applications for a current use tax reduction must also be submitted to the Santa Clara County Assessor's Office.

For some properties, you can easily find the most recent tax assessment by looking up the property address with our property records search. You can also use our Santa Clara County Property Tax Calculator to estimate your property tax based on median tax values (results open in new page).