Moraga vs Midtown, Palo Alto
Moraga carries an effective property tax rate of 1.08% of assessed value and Midtown, Palo Alto carries 1.17%, both for fiscal year 2025-26. On one identical reference loan the monthly carrying costs are $9,728 and $9,853 — $125 apart, with Moraga lower. To Sunnyvale / Mountain View at AM peak the fastest published commutes are 70 min by car from Moraga and 18 min by Caltrain from Midtown, Palo Alto. Every figure is an objective public metric or arithmetic on one, and names its source.
Moraga (Contra Costa County) · Midtown, Palo Alto (Santa Clara County)
| Metric | Moraga | Midtown, Palo Alto | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median $/sqft (SFR) | $1,000 | $1,900 | −$900 |
| Effective tax rate | 1.08% | 1.17% | −0.094% |
| Monthly cost, reference loan | $9,728 | $9,853 | −$125 |
| FiDi SF (Montgomery St BART) — Drive | 50 min | 65 min | −15 min |
| Oakland City Center (12th St BART) — BART | 32 min | 90 min | −58 min |
| Oakland City Center (12th St BART) — Drive | 30 min | 50 min | −20 min |
| Sunnyvale / Mountain View (Sunnyvale Caltrain) — Drive | 70 min | 18 min | +52 min |
Difference is Moraga minus Midtown, Palo Alto. Sources are cited on each submarket page.
Palo Alto (Midtown) carries $900 more per square foot than Moraga — 90% — and that single spread decides most searches that start with both names on the list. The tax rates land 1.08% in Moraga against 1.17% in Palo Alto (Midtown), close enough that price per foot, not the levy, is what moves the payment.
What the same money buys
Midtown Palo Alto comps run $1,800-$2,200 per square foot for detached. Against that, moraga's discount to Orinda and Lafayette is a commute penalty priced into the square foot. At $1,000 and $1,900 per foot respectively, a fixed budget buys about 90% more floor area in Moraga.
Carrying $1,600,000 in each
Holding the loan constant — $1,600,000, 20% down, 6.5% on a 30-year fixed, $2,400 of insurance, no HOA — Moraga totals $9,728 a month at 1.08% and Palo Alto (Midtown) $9,853 at 1.17% — tax lines of $1,437 and $1,563. Moraga School District and Acalanes parcel taxes plus town road and storm-drain measures total $900-$1,300 a year. No HOA on detached Midtown homes; condos carry $500-$800 a month.
The trip each morning
To Sunnyvale / Mountain View (Sunnyvale Caltrain): 70 minutes by driving from Moraga, 18 by Caltrain from Palo Alto (Midtown) — a 52-minute edge to Palo Alto (Midtown), or 8.7 hours across a ten-trip week. Highway 24 from Moraga reaches the Bay Bridge in 35 minutes at 6 a.m., 65-80 at 8. Stanford is 10 minutes from Midtown, Google Mountain View 15, Apple Cupertino 25-35, and the Bryant Street bike boulevard carries a lot of it.
Hazard and insurance
Moraga non-renewals track Orinda's; plan on FAIR Plan plus a wrap at $5K-$9K a year. Standard fire carriers write Midtown; the Foothill and Palo Alto Hills homes west of 280 are mapped High instead. Pull the parcel's own mapping — CAL FIRE severity zone, FEMA flood panel, CGS liquefaction zone — and get a written quote before the contingency date.
Choosing between them
Moraga answers a square-footage requirement rather than a commute requirement. Midtown Palo Alto fits a bike-to-Stanford or bike-to-Caltrain requirement.
Sources. Rate and payment figures: Contra Costa TRA Book FY 2025-26; Santa Clara County Tax Rate Book FY 2025-26, as composited in build/assets/metrics.json — unverified at tax-rate-area level, so read the bill. Minutes shown are AM-peak and door to door, from data/commute/static.csv. Price per square foot is a trailing median and is not an appraisal. Qualitative detail is the broker's own field observation.
Compare any two submarkets
| Metric | Moraga | Midtown, Palo Alto |
|---|---|---|
| Median $/sqft (SFR) | $1,000 | $1,900 |
| Effective tax rate | 1.08% | 1.17% |
| Monthly cost, reference loan | $9,728 | $9,853 |
| Fastest to FiDi SF (Montgomery St BART) | 50 min | 65 min |
| Fastest to Oakland City Center (12th St BART) | 30 min | 50 min |
| Fastest to Sunnyvale / Mountain View (Sunnyvale Caltrain) | 70 min | 18 min |
Same reference loan on both sides; the tax line is the only variable. Commute figures are door-to-door AM-peak estimates. Sources are listed on each submarket page.
Moraga detail
| Component | Rate of assessed value |
|---|---|
| Prop 13 general levy | 1.000% |
| County / city voter-approved bonds | 0.012% |
| School district measures | 0.066% |
| Effective rate | 1.08% |
| Mello-Roos / CFD | None recorded |
Source: Contra Costa TRA Book FY 2025-26 (Contra Costa County), composited in
build/assets/metrics.json.
Tax Rate Area not yet verified parcel-by-parcel — confirm the rate on the parcel’s own tax bill.
Midtown, Palo Alto detail
| Component | Rate of assessed value |
|---|---|
| Prop 13 general levy | 1.000% |
| County / city voter-approved bonds | 0.045% |
| School district measures | 0.127% |
| Effective rate | 1.17% |
| Mello-Roos / CFD | None recorded |
Source: Santa Clara County Tax Rate Book FY 2025-26 (Santa Clara County), composited in
build/assets/metrics.json.
Tax Rate Area not yet verified parcel-by-parcel — confirm the rate on the parcel’s own tax bill.
Moraga vs Midtown, Palo Alto: questions and answers
- Which has the lower effective property tax rate, Moraga or Midtown, Palo Alto?
- Moraga, at 1.08% of assessed value against 1.17% for fiscal year 2025-26 — a gap of 0.090%. Rates are composited from county tax rate books; each parcel bill governs.
- How much do monthly carrying costs differ between Moraga and Midtown, Palo Alto?
- $125 per month on the identical reference loan: Moraga $9,728, Midtown, Palo Alto $9,853. Moraga is lower. Principal and interest are held constant, so the difference is the tax line. Arithmetic only.
- Which has the shorter commute to Sunnyvale / Mountain View, Moraga or Midtown, Palo Alto?
- Midtown, Palo Alto. Moraga is 70 min by car; Midtown, Palo Alto is 18 min by Caltrain. Door-to-door, AM peak. Source: data/commute/static.csv.
- What is the price per square foot difference between Moraga and Midtown, Palo Alto?
- $900 per square foot: Moraga $1,000, Midtown, Palo Alto $1,900. Single-family medians, trailing twelve months. A median is not a valuation of any specific property.