What is the property tax rate in San Joaquin County?

The combined effective property tax rate in San Joaquin County, California is approximately 0.85%.

San Joaquin County Property Tax Calculator (2026) — California Property Tax Almanac

Property Tax in San Joaquin County, 2026

A calculator and field guide for Stockton-area homeowners — and for anyone considering a move to San Joaquin County — including Proposition 13's acquisition-value system, the 2% annual cap on Factored Base Year Value, the $7,000 Homeowners' Exemption, Proposition 19 base year transfers for 55+ and disabled homeowners, and the Mello-Roos special taxes that apply on top of the Prop 13 ad valorem rate in newer subdivisions.

San Joaquin County, home to Stockton and roughly 779k Californians, runs on Proposition 13 (1978) — the constitutional amendment that fundamentally reshaped how California taxes property. Unlike every other state in this almanac, California's property tax base is your purchase price, not the current market value of your home. Two identical homes on the same street can have wildly different tax bills based purely on when they were last sold.

How the bill is built

California's Prop 13 system has four steps. Step 1: Base Year Value (BYV). When you buy a property, the county assessor sets your BYV equal to your purchase price. (For property held continuously since before March 1, 1975, the BYV is the 1975 assessed value — but those parcels are increasingly rare.) Step 2: Factored Base Year Value (FBYV). Each year the BYV grows by the lesser of 2% or the California Consumer Price Index. The 2% cap dominates — for the 2025-26 assessment year, CCPI was 2.514% so the 2% cap applied. Step 3: Taxable Value. From FBYV, subtract the $7,000 Homeowners' Exemption (if owner-occupied) and any Disabled Veterans Exemption. Step 4: Tax. Multiply Taxable Value by the nominal rate for your Tax Rate Area (TRA) — 1% Prop 13 base plus voter-approved bonded indebtedness. For the City of Stockton, this is approximately 1.20%.

Reassessment happens only on (a) change of ownership or (b) new construction. Routine market value increases do not trigger reassessment. When ownership changes, FBYV resets to the new purchase price and the 2% growth cycle restarts. This is the core mechanism that creates the famous Prop 13 disparity between long-term owners and new buyers.

The Prop 13 disparity in San Joaquin County. Median home value is ~$540,000 and median bills land near $4,590. New buyers pay the nominal 1.20% rate against purchase price; long-term owners pay it against their lower Factored Base Year Value. The calculator lets you model both scenarios.

Mello-Roos Community Facilities District (CFD) special taxes are NOT capped by Prop 13. In master-planned communities throughout San Joaquin County (especially newer subdivisions), Mello-Roos can add $1,500-$7,000+ annually beyond the Prop 13 ad valorem rate. These appear as separate line items on your tax bill and grow at rates set by each CFD\'s formation document — often 2% per year, sometimes more. Always check the CFD disclosures before buying in a Mello-Roos district.

Bills due November 1 and February 1. California property taxes are paid in two installments. The first half is delinquent if not paid by December 10; the second half is delinquent if not paid by April 10. A 10% penalty applies after each delinquency date.

2026 San Joaquin County rate breakdown (% of FBYV — applies to new buyers; long-term owners pay this same rate against a lower factored base year value, Stockton district)

Taxing entity	Rate
San Joaquin new-buyer rate (1% Prop 13 + voter bonds)	1.2000
Combined total	1.2000

As of April 27, 2026 · From San Joaquin County Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk.

Note: San Joaquin County is the convergence point of the Central Valley’s northern reach and the Bay Area’s eastern commute corridor. Stockton — the county seat and California’s 13th-largest city (~320,000) — sits at the head of the Stockton Deep Water Channel, a 78-mile dredged channel through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to the Pacific. The Port of Stockton is one of the largest US inland ports (handling bulk cement, steel, fertilizer, ag exports). Tracy, Manteca, and Lathrop on the western edge serve as bedroom suburbs for I-580 / I-205 commuters to Alameda County and the Bay Area.

Note: San Joaquin’s nominal ~1.20% new-buyer rate is among the higher in California — driven by post-2008 reconstruction bonds (Stockton Unified, Lodi Unified, Manteca Unified school facility bonds), the San Joaquin Delta Community College District, and water district levies. The county’s 0.85% market-value effective rate also runs higher than coastal California — newer Tracy/Manteca/Lathrop construction reduces the long-term Prop 13 owner discount that suppresses effective rates in older Bay Area counties.

Note: Stockton became the largest US city to file for Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy when it filed June 28, 2012 (later surpassed by Detroit’s 2013 filing). The bankruptcy plan was confirmed February 2015 — a 30-month process involving ~$2 billion in debt restructuring, pension preservation through a controversial settlement with CalPERS, and significant cuts to retiree health benefits. Stockton emerged from bankruptcy and has subsequently piloted programs (including the SEED guaranteed-income experiment, 2019-2021, that gave 125 residents $500/month for 24 months).

Exemptions, transfers, and Prop 19 for 2026

California's homeowner tax relief works through three mechanisms: (1) the small-but-universal Homeowners' Exemption, (2) the powerful Disabled Veterans Exemption, and (3) the Proposition 19 base-year-value transfer programs for older, disabled, and disaster-affected homeowners. Most of these require a one-time application; once granted, they continue for as long as you qualify.

Homeowners' Exemption — $7,000 reduction in taxable value

If you own and occupy Stockton as your principal residence on January 1 of the tax year, you can claim the Homeowners' Exemption — a $7,000 reduction in taxable value. At the San Joaquin County nominal rate of 1.20%, this saves approximately $84 per year. File Form BOE-266 (also called the Homeowners' Property Tax Exemption Claim) with the San Joaquin County Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk by February 15 of the year following the lien date. The exemption auto-renews; you only file once.

The Homeowners' Exemption is small in absolute terms compared to the homestead exemptions in Florida, Texas, or Indiana — but every California homeowner-occupant qualifies regardless of income or age, and missing it means leaving roughly $80/year on the table.

Disabled Veterans Exemption — $169,769 to $254,656 reduction

Veterans who are 100% disabled due to a service-connected disability (or whose disability is rated as totally disabling under specific conditions) receive a substantial taxable-value reduction:

Basic exemption: $169,769 reduction in taxable value (2025 amount; indexed annually for inflation).
Low-income exemption: $254,656 reduction if household income is below approximately $76,235 (2025 threshold; also indexed annually).

File Form BOE-261-G with the San Joaquin County Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk. VA disability rating documentation must be attached. Surviving spouses retain the exemption under specific conditions (Revenue and Taxation Code § 205.5).

Proposition 19 (2020) — Base Year Value Transfer

Prop 19 (Article XIII A, Section 2.1, effective April 1, 2021) allows certain homeowners to transfer their existing FBYV to a replacement primary residence anywhere in California. Eligible homeowners include:

Homeowners aged 55 or older;
Homeowners who are severely and permanently disabled;
Homeowners whose home was damaged or destroyed by a wildfire or natural disaster.

The transfer is allowed up to three times in a lifetime (for 55+ and disabled homeowners; unlimited for disaster victims). The replacement home can be of greater value — if so, the FBYV is adjusted upward by the difference between the original and replacement market values. Prop 19 replaced the older Prop 60 / Prop 90 / Prop 110 transfer rules, which were limited to same-county transfers (Prop 60) or specific opt-in counties (Prop 90).

Prop 19 — Inheritance / Intergenerational Transfer

Prop 19 also narrowed the property tax break previously available when parents transferred property to children (formerly Prop 58 / Prop 193). Under the current rules:

The child must use the inherited property as their primary residence within one year of the transfer to retain any portion of the parent's FBYV.
The exclusion is capped at $1,044,586 above the prior FBYV (for transfers between February 16, 2025 and February 15, 2027 — the cap is indexed every two years).
If the home's market value exceeds the parent's FBYV plus the cap, the difference is added to the child's new FBYV.
Inherited investment properties (rentals, vacation homes) no longer qualify for any exclusion and are reassessed at full market value.

To claim, file Form BOE-19-P (parent-child) or BOE-19-G (grandparent-grandchild) with the county assessor within three years of the transfer date. The child must also file the Homeowners' Exemption (BOE-266) within one year. Missing either deadline means the property is reassessed at full market value with no exclusion.

Appealing your assessment

California's appeal process is shorter than most states but requires careful timing. Your Notice of Assessed Value arrives in July. You have until November 30 in most counties (September 15 in counties that mail notices early) to file Form BOE-305-AH (Application for Changed Assessment) with the County Assessment Appeals Board.

Note that California's Prop 13 acquisition-value system means appeals are most useful in two specific scenarios: (1) Prop 8 temporary reductions — if your home's current market value has fallen below your FBYV (e.g., during a real-estate downturn), you can request a temporary reduction to market value; (2) change in ownership disputes — challenging the assessor's determination of when (or whether) a reassessable change in ownership occurred. General disagreements with valuation methodology are less effective in California than in market-value states because the FBYV is anchored to a specific historical purchase price.

If unresolved through the local Assessment Appeals Board, the next step is California Superior Court (which can review only on questions of law, not factual valuation). The San Joaquin County Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk maintains the appeal forms and hearing schedule.

Cities and towns in San Joaquin County

San Joaquin County contains 6 incorporated municipalities, ranging from Stockton to the smallest village. Search volume for property tax is often city-specific, so here is the complete list — with population from the 2020 US Census, rounded to the nearest 100.

Data: US Census Bureau, 2020 Decennial Census. Populations rounded. Cities marked as "split" straddle a county border — the portion inside San Joaquin County is subject to San Joaquin County's tax rolls, while the portion outside is subject to the adjacent county's.

City or town	Type	Population (2020)
Stockton County seat	city	320,000
Tracy	city	96,000
Manteca	city	87,000
Lodi	city	67,000
Lathrop	city	32,000
Ripon	city	16,000

About city-level property tax rates: The rate breakdown and calculator on this page reflect the Stockton tax district. Other cities in San Joaquin County may pay into different school districts, city rates, and special districts — so their combined rates can differ, sometimes substantially. Always verify the specific rates for your address with the San Joaquin County Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk before relying on any estimate.

Frequently asked questions

When are San Joaquin County property taxes due?

California property taxes are paid in two installments. The first installment covers July 1 - December 31; due November 1, delinquent if unpaid by December 10. The second installment covers January 1 - June 30; due February 1, delinquent if unpaid by April 10. A 10% penalty applies after each delinquency date.

What is the Factored Base Year Value (FBYV)?

Your FBYV is the heart of California's Proposition 13 system. When you buy a property, the county assessor sets the Base Year Value (BYV) equal to your purchase price. Each year after, the BYV grows by the lesser of 2% or California CPI — that grown value is the FBYV. For the 2025-26 assessment year, CPI was 2.514%, so the 2% cap applied. Tax is computed against FBYV, not current market value.

If my home's market value goes up 30%, will my taxes go up 30%?

Almost certainly not. Under Proposition 13, your assessed value can only grow by up to 2% per year regardless of how fast market values rise — unless ownership changes or you complete new construction. So if you bought 10 years ago and your market value has doubled, your assessed value has only grown about 22% (10 × 2% compounded). Your tax bill grows in line with assessed value, not market value. This is why two identical homes on the same street can have wildly different tax bills.

How do I appeal my assessment?

California's appeal window is short. Notice of Assessed Value arrives in July; file Form BOE-305-AH with the San Joaquin County Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk County Assessment Appeals Board by November 30 in most counties (September 15 in counties that mail notices early). Appeals are most useful in two cases: Prop 8 temporary reductions (when market value drops below your FBYV), and change-of-ownership disputes (challenging the assessor's reassessment trigger). General disagreements with valuation methodology are less effective in California than in market-value states because the FBYV is anchored to a specific historical purchase price.

About San Joaquin County

Beyond the property tax — a few things you might not know about the place.

Weird fact

Lodi (in northern San Joaquin County) produces more wine than any other US wine region by volume — ~20% of California’s total wine grape harvest, dominated by Zinfandel from old vines (some pre-Prohibition, planted 1890s-1900s). The Lodi AVA was designated 1986 and includes 7 sub-AVAs. Lodi is also referenced in the Creedence Clearwater Revival 1969 song "Lodi" — though John Fogerty later admitted he had never been to Lodi when he wrote it; he picked the name because it sounded like a town a touring band would get stuck in.

Hometown hero

Pavel Datsyuk (and University of the Pacific)

Stockton’s University of the Pacific is the oldest chartered university in California (founded 1851 as California Wesleyan College in Santa Clara, relocated to Stockton 1923). Notable alumni include former House Speaker Tom McClintock, jazz pianist Dave Brubeck (the "Take Five" composer was a 1942 Pacific graduate; the Brubeck Institute is at Pacific), and many California political figures. Brubeck’s Pacific connection runs deep: his 1959 album "Time Out" — featuring "Take Five" and "Blue Rondo à la Turk" — was the first jazz LP to sell over a million copies.

Biggest annual event

San Joaquin County Fair and the Lodi Grape Festival

The San Joaquin County Fair has run annually in mid-June at the Stockton fairgrounds since 1860 (one of California’s oldest county fairs). The Lodi Grape Festival has run annually in mid-September since 1934 — celebrating the regional wine harvest with a grape-stomping competition, parade, and wine tasting.

Property Tax in San Joaquin County, 2026