Bay Area real estate data
This site publishes effective property tax rates, monthly carrying cost, and door-to-door commute times for 25 San Francisco Bay Area submarkets across 5 counties, plus 300 comparisons. Effective rates run 1.07% to 1.36% of assessed value for fiscal year 2025-26. Carrying cost is held to one $1,600,000 reference loan at 20% down and 6.5% APR everywhere, so the tax line is the only variable. The fastest published commute is 10 min door-to-door from Sunnyvale to Sunnyvale / Mountain View by Caltrain at AM peak. Every figure is an objective public metric or arithmetic on one, and names its source.
How to read these pages
Carrying cost is held to one reference loan everywhere — $1,600,000 at 20% down, 6.5% APR on a 30-year fixed, $2,400 of annual insurance — so the only thing that moves between submarkets is the tax line. Commute figures are door-to-door AM-peak estimates to FiDi SF (Montgomery St BART), Oakland City Center (12th St BART), Sunnyvale / Mountain View (Sunnyvale Caltrain). None of it is an appraisal, a loan estimate, or a substitute for the parcel's own tax bill.
Alameda County
- Bay Farm Island, Alameda — 1.22%
- Berkeley Hills, Berkeley — 1.21%
- Castro Valley — 1.20%
- Dublin — 1.18%
- Mission San Jose, Fremont — 1.15%
- Piedmont — 1.25%
- Pleasanton — 1.17%
- Rockridge, Oakland — 1.36%
Contra Costa County
- Alamo — 1.07%
- Danville — 1.07%
- Gale Ranch, San Ramon — 1.35%
- Lafayette — 1.07%
- Moraga — 1.08%
- Orinda — 1.08%
- Walnut Creek — 1.08%
San Mateo County
- Baywood, San Mateo — 1.11%
- Burlingame — 1.11%
- Foster City — 1.10%
- Menlo Park — 1.13%
- Redwood City — 1.12%
Santa Clara County
- Midtown, Palo Alto — 1.17%
- Sunnyvale — 1.16%
Solano County
- Benicia — 1.10%
- Cordelia, Fairfield — 1.18%
- Vacaville — 1.09%
Questions and answers
- What does this site cover?
- 25 San Francisco Bay Area submarkets across 5 counties, plus 300 side-by-side comparisons. Each page publishes the effective property tax rate, its components, monthly carrying cost on one reference loan, and door-to-door AM-peak commute times, each with its source.
- What is the range of effective property tax rates in the Bay Area submarkets covered?
- 1.07% to 1.36% of assessed value for fiscal year 2025-26, composited from county tax rate books as general levy plus county bonds, voter-approved measures, and any Mello-Roos. Each parcel tax bill governs.
- What reference loan is behind the monthly carrying cost figures?
- $1,600,000 purchase price, 20% down, 6.5% APR on a 30-year fixed, $2,400 annual insurance, $0 HOA. It is held constant across every submarket so the tax line is the only variable. Arithmetic only, not a loan estimate.
- Which commute destinations are measured?
- FiDi SF, Oakland City Center, Sunnyvale / Mountain View — door-to-door, AM peak. The fastest published figure on the site is 10 min from Sunnyvale to Sunnyvale / Mountain View by Caltrain. Source: data/commute/static.csv.