California's Homestead Exemption Is Not a Property Tax Break. Here Is What Each One Does.
Two California rules share a word and almost nothing else. The homestead exemption lives in the Code of Civil Procedure and shields a slice of your home's equity from judgment creditors and in bankruptcy; it never appears on a tax bill. The Homeowners' Exemption lives in the Revenue and Taxation Code and takes $7,000 off the assessed value of the home you live in. People searching for a “California homestead exemption for property taxes” usually want the second one, because in Florida, Texas and most other states the homestead exemption is the property-tax break. This page sets the two side by side, with the statute for each.
Quick answer
Homestead exemption (Code of Civil Procedure §704.730): protects the greater of $300,000 or your county's median single-family sale price, up to $600,000, inflation-adjusted each January 1, from forced sale by creditors. Automatic for the home you live in; a recorded declaration adds protection for sale proceeds. No effect on property tax. Homeowners' Exemption (Revenue and Taxation Code §218): $7,000 off assessed value of your principal residence, about $70–$90 a year, claimed once on BOE-266 with the county assessor.
Side by side
| Homestead exemption | Homeowners' Exemption | |
|---|---|---|
| What it does | Protects home equity from judgment creditors and in bankruptcy | Reduces the assessed value used for property tax |
| Code | Code of Civil Procedure §704.710–§704.850 (automatic), §704.910–§704.995 (declared) | Revenue and Taxation Code §218, §253.5, §255, §275; Cal. Const. art. XIII §3(k) |
| Amount | Greater of $300,000 or the county median single-family sale price, capped at $600,000; adjusted for inflation each January 1 (§704.730) | $7,000 of full value (§218(a)); worth about $70–$90 a year at a 1.0–1.3% rate |
| Who qualifies | The judgment debtor or spouse who lives in the dwelling when the lien attaches (§704.710) | An owner who occupies the dwelling as a principal residence on the January 1 lien date (§218) |
| How you get it | Automatic; asserted when a creditor seeks a court-ordered sale (§704.740). Optional recorded declaration (§704.920) | File BOE-266 with the county assessor once; renews automatically |
| Deadline | None for the automatic exemption | February 15 for 100%; December 10 for 80% of that year (§255, §275) |
| Office | Superior court; county recorder for a declaration | County assessor |
| Effect on your tax bill | None | About $70–$90 a year off; 4,636,214 California homes claimed it in 2025-26 |
The homestead exemption (Code of Civil Procedure)
California's homestead law is part of the rules on enforcing money judgments. Its job is to decide how much of the equity in a debtor's home a creditor can reach when it tries to force a sale. The key sections, paraphrased, with links to the Legislature's text:
- §704.710 defines the homestead as the principal dwelling in which the judgment debtor or the debtor's spouse resided on the date the judgment creditor's lien attached, and in which either continues to reside.
- §704.720 exempts the homestead from sale to the extent of the exemption amount, and protects sale proceeds for six months.
- §704.730 sets the amount: the greater of $300,000 or the countywide median sale price of a single-family home in the calendar year before the year the creditor claims the exemption, but no more than $600,000; both figures adjust each January 1 for the change in the California Consumer Price Index (AB 1885, Stats. 2020, Ch. 94, operative January 1, 2021). Before 2021 the amounts were $75,000, $100,000 and $175,000.
- §704.740: a creditor needs a court order to sell a dwelling, and §704.800 bars a sale that would not clear the liens and the exemption with a minimum bid.
- §704.910–§704.995: the declared homestead. A declaration recorded with the county recorder (§704.920–§704.930) protects the voluntary-sale proceeds for six months (§704.960) and gives the homestead priority over judgment liens recorded after the declaration (§704.950). It does not increase the dollar amount.
No state agency publishes the adjusted figures (the Judicial Council's EJ-156 exemption form has no homestead line, and its 2022 letter called the computation unclear). Applying the Department of Industrial Relations' California CPI-U series to the statute's mechanism gives a floor of about$371,000 and a cap of about $743,000 for 2026 (about $361,000 and $722,000 for 2025); published law-firm tables fall within half a percent of those depending on the month used, and the Sacramento County Law Library publishes a 2026 pair of $370,550 and $731,300. They are estimates, not official figures. The statute's own numbers remain $300,000 and $600,000. The homestead exemption is also what a California debtor claims in bankruptcy under 11 U.S.C. §522(b)(3), a federal question outside this site's scope.
The Homeowners' Exemption (Revenue and Taxation Code §218)
The property-tax rule, in the statute's own words:
(a) The homeowners’ property tax exemption is in the amount of the assessed value of the dwelling specified in this section, as authorized by subdivision (k) of Section 3 of Article XIII of the California Constitution. That exemption shall be in the amount of seven thousand dollars ($7,000) of the full value of the dwelling.
(b) (1) The exemption does not extend to property that is rented, vacant, under construction on the lien date, or that is a vacation or secondary home of the owner or owners, nor does it apply to property on which an owner receives the veterans’ exemption.
Seven thousand dollars of assessed value at a 1.1% rate is about $77 a year. It is claimed once on BOE-266 and then renews itself while you own and occupy the home; §218(b)(2)–(4) keep it in place during a temporary absence after a disaster or a hospital stay. The Homeowners' Exemption page covers the claim, the deadlines and the late-filing rule, and the calculator has a toggle that shows the saving on your own estimate. Statewide, 4,636,214 homes carried the exemption in 2025-26, a count that has fallen every year since 2000-01 while the number of owner-occupied homes grew; the lock-in page has the county table.
Why the confusion: other states' homestead exemptions
In Florida the homestead exemption removes up to $50,000 of assessed value and caps annual increases at 3%; in Texas it removes $140,000 of school-district value (from 2025) and caps increases at 10%. Those are property-tax rules that happen to be called homestead exemptions. California keeps the two jobs in different codes: Proposition 13 (1978) caps the assessment itself (2% a year on the factored base-year value), the Constitution's art. XIII §3(k) provides the $7,000 Homeowners' Exemption (in place since 1974, before Proposition 13), and the Code of Civil Procedure keeps the word “homestead” for creditor protection. A new Californian looking for the familiar property-tax homestead filing should file BOE-266 and nothing else.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does California have a homestead exemption for property taxes?
Not under that name. In Florida, Texas and many other states the "homestead exemption" is a property-tax reduction; in California the homestead exemption is a creditor protection in the Code of Civil Procedure (§704.710–§704.850) and has no effect on your tax bill. California's property-tax break for an owner-occupied home is the Homeowners' Exemption in Revenue and Taxation Code §218: $7,000 off the assessed value, worth about $70 to $90 a year at typical rates, claimed once on form BOE-266.
How much is the California homestead exemption?
Code of Civil Procedure §704.730 sets it at the greater of $300,000 or the countywide median sale price of a single-family home in the prior calendar year, capped at $600,000, with both figures adjusted each January 1 since 2022 by the change in the California Consumer Price Index. No state agency publishes the adjusted figures (the Judicial Council's exemption form EJ-156 carries no homestead line). Applying the Department of Industrial Relations index ourselves gives a floor of about $371,000 and a cap of about $743,000 for 2026 (about $361,000 and $722,000 for 2025); law-firm tables land within half a percent of those, and the Sacramento County Law Library publishes $370,550 and $731,300 for 2026. Treat them as estimates and confirm with the court before relying on them.
Do I have to file anything to get the homestead exemption?
Not for the automatic homestead: it applies to the dwelling you (or your spouse) live in when a judgment creditor's lien attaches, and it is asserted when a creditor tries to force a sale (§704.710, §704.740). A declared homestead is different: you record a Homestead Declaration with the county recorder (§704.920–§704.930). It extends protection to the proceeds of a voluntary sale for six months and gives priority over certain later liens (§704.950–§704.960), but it is not required for the basic protection and it is not a property-tax filing.
Where do I file a homestead declaration in California?
With the county recorder of the county where the home is, not with the assessor. The declaration must be signed and acknowledged (notarized) and state that the property is the principal dwelling of the declarant or their spouse (§704.930). Each recorder sets its own recording fee. Recording it has no effect on your property tax, your assessment or your Homeowners' Exemption.
How do I claim the $7,000 Homeowners' Exemption?
File BOE-266, Claim for Homeowners' Property Tax Exemption, with the county assessor once; it then renews automatically while you own and occupy the home. The full exemption applies to a claim filed by February 15 (§255); a claim filed by December 10 gets 80% for that year (§275). The dwelling must be your principal residence on the January 1 lien date; rentals, vacant homes and second homes do not qualify (§218(b)(1)). Most assessors mail the form to new owners automatically.
Can I have both?
Yes, and most California owner-occupants do without thinking about it: the automatic homestead protects the equity in the home you live in, and the Homeowners' Exemption reduces its assessed value by $7,000. They come from different codes, are administered by different offices (the courts and recorder for one, the assessor for the other) and neither affects the other.
Learn More
Sources: Code of Civil Procedure §§704.710–704.850 and 704.910–704.995 as amended by AB 1885 (Stats. 2020, Ch. 94) and, for §704.730, SB 1525 (Stats. 2024, Ch. 80), paraphrased with the section cited and the statute's base amounts; Revenue and Taxation Code §218 (as amended by SB 520, Stats. 2023, Ch. 781), §253.5, §255 and §275 from the Legislature's bulk data (build of October 18, 2026), §218 quoted verbatim; Board of Equalization form BOE-266 and the Homeowners' Exemption claim counts from the BOE data portal (Gross Assessed Values and Homeowners' Exemptions). Florida and Texas figures are those states' statutory amounts, given for contrast only. Educational information, not legal advice; creditor and bankruptcy questions need a lawyer.
Last reviewed: October 2026.