California Real Estate Transfer Tax Calculator

California's baseline real estate transfer tax is the countywide documentary transfer tax set by Revenue and Taxation Code Section 11911 at $1.10 per $1,000 of value, just 0.11% of the sale price, one of the lowest statutory county rates in the country. That statutory floor, however, is not the whole story in much of urban California: charter cities including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland, Berkeley, and Santa Monica layer their own separately legislated city transfer or mansion taxes on top, some reaching several percent on higher-value sales.

Under the statute, the county tax is imposed on the person who executes the deed, typically the seller, though California law also allows the parties to reallocate payment by contract, and local custom varies by county and city. This calculator applies the uniform statutory county rate as its baseline, which is the accurate figure for the large majority of California cities that have not enacted their own separate city-level transfer tax.

California's baseline transfer tax is a flat rate applied to the entire sale price at the county level:

$$\text{Transfer Tax} = \text{Sale Price} \times 0.0011$$

The calculator's engine runs this through the calculateStateRealEstateTransferTax primitive using California's statutory county rate of 0.0011 (0.11%). This is the documentary transfer tax that every California county charges under Revenue and Taxation Code 11911; it does not include any city-level transfer tax, since city rates vary enormously by jurisdiction (from $0 in cities without their own ordinance up to multi-percent tiered rates in San Francisco and Los Angeles) and are not part of the uniform statewide baseline this calculator models.

Using the calculator's baseline $380,000 sale price:

• Sale Price: $380,000
• California county documentary transfer tax rate: 0.11% ($1.10 per $1,000 of consideration)
• Transfer Tax Due: $380,000 × 0.0011 = $418.00
• Net Proceeds After Tax: $380,000 − $418 = $379,582.00
• Effective Rate: 0.110%

At the higher-value scenario of $1,500,000, the county-level rate alone produces: $1,500,000 × 0.0011 = $1,650.00 in tax due. This figure reflects only the county documentary transfer tax; a $1,500,000 sale inside San Francisco or Los Angeles city limits would owe substantially more once the applicable city transfer tax tier is added on top, since both cities impose steep additional rates on transactions above roughly $1 million to $5 million depending on the specific tier.

• Charter city transfer taxes. San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland, Berkeley, and Santa Monica each impose their own tiered city transfer tax on top of the county rate, and these can be many times larger than the county documentary transfer tax modeled here. Any property inside these city limits should be checked against the specific city's published tax schedule.
• County variation for charter counties. A small number of California counties are themselves charter counties with some latitude on transfer tax administration, though the $1.10 per $1,000 base rate is applied consistently in practice statewide.
• Recording fees and title insurance. California county recorders charge separate flat recording fees, and title insurance premiums (often a meaningful percentage of sale price in California) are entirely separate from the documentary transfer tax.
• Exemptions for certain transfer types. California exempts transfers between spouses, transfers securing debt, and certain trust transfers from the documentary transfer tax. This calculator assumes a standard taxable arm's-length sale.

• Assuming the county rate is the total tax bill in a major city. This is the single biggest source of underestimation in California. A San Francisco sale above $10 million can face a combined city and county transfer tax rate well above 6%, dramatically more than the 0.11% county baseline this calculator reports.
• Confusing California's documentary transfer tax with property tax reassessment. The transfer tax is a one-time charge at the point of sale; California's separate Proposition 13 property tax reassessment triggered by a change in ownership is an ongoing annual cost and is not related to the transfer tax at all.
• Overlooking that the rate applies to consideration, not assessed value. The 0.11% county rate applies to the actual sale price (consideration) paid, not the county assessor's prior assessed value, which can differ substantially in a rising market.
• Assuming a uniform statewide rate exists for cities. Unlike Alabama or Georgia's genuinely flat statewide rates, California's real effective rate varies enormously by city; treating 0.11% as a universal California number is a common and costly mistake for anyone transacting in San Francisco, Los Angeles, or similar charter cities.

• California Revenue and Taxation Code Section 11911, Documentary Transfer Tax Act
• Engine table: engine/tables/2026/state-real-estate-transfer-tax.json, California entry, verified 2026-08-21