Merced Property Tax Rate
The typical property-tax rate in Merced is about 1.11% of assessed value (from Merced County's 2025-26 tax-rate book) — the 1% Proposition 13 base plus voter-approved debt. The median single-family home in Merced is assessed at about $239,066 for existing owners (county parcel roll, computed October 2026; 24,583 single-family parcels) — roughly $2,654 a year. Estimate your own bill below, or jump to where to pay and look up your bill.
At about 1.11%, Merced is near the ~1.14% average of the typical rates across the 57 California city pages on this site. Merced is in Merced County, which averages about 1.07% on the Board of Equalization's county-average rate — see the Merced County overview →
At Merced's typical rate of 1.11%:
$2,654 / year
Ad-valorem only — excludes Mello-Roos and fixed direct assessments. Your exact rate depends on your parcel's Tax Rate Area. Under Proposition 13, assessed value is generally your purchase price, rising ≤2% a year.
How Merced property tax is calculated
California taxes property under Proposition 13: your assessed value is generally set when you buy, then rises no more than 2% a year until the property changes hands or is newly built. The annual bill is that assessed value times the ad-valorem rate — the 1% base plus voter-approved bonds — which is why Merced's typical rate works out to about 1.11%. Because the bonds differ by Tax Rate Area, two homes in Merced can pay slightly different rates. Mello-Roos and fixed direct assessments, where they apply, are billed separately on top. To see how the rate shifts across the county, use the Merced County property tax rate by ZIP code. See the Merced County Mello-Roos district list to check whether a community has a CFD special tax.
Learn the rules behind the rate: Proposition 13, Mello-Roos, and what triggers a reassessment.
Merced's total assessed value
The total assessed value of all taxable property in Merced reached $8.8 billion in 2025, up 6.5% from the year before and up 125.8% since 2013. That is the citywide roll across all property types (State Board of Equalization) — not the value of any single home. The roll grows with new construction, sales that reset values, and the Proposition 13 2% annual cap, so it rises even when the tax rate does not.
New construction in Merced, and the bill it triggers
Merced reported 973 housing units permitted in 2025 to the state's Housing Element Annual Progress Report (7 of them accessory dwelling units) and 565 units completed; 5,723 units were permitted from 2018 to 2025, 26 of them ADUs. Completed new construction is generally reassessed as of its completion date and billed on a supplemental bill separate from the annual bill (Revenue and Taxation Code §75.10, §75.11); a builder's homes in a subdivision of five or more lots are usually not supplemented until they sell or are occupied (§75.12), and one apartment building is one assessment however many units it holds (how supplemental bills work; what an ADU adds).
| Year | Units permitted | of which ADUs | Units completed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 628 | 7 | 808 |
| 2023 | 464 | 5 | 628 |
| 2024 | 517 | 4 | 427 |
| 2025 | 973 | 7 | 565 |
Source: HCD Annual Progress Report data by jurisdiction and year (data.ca.gov); our extract is the HCD units CSV on the datasets page.
Outside the water mains: drillers have filed Well Completion Reports with the Department of Water Resources for 838 domestic wells with a Merced address (some of them in the unincorporated area around the city) since 2000, with a median depth of 300 feet (middle half 240–350 ft) and water standing about 105 ft down. A new home on a well is new construction like any other: well depths by county.
Pay or look up your Merced property tax bill
Merced does not bill property tax itself — your bill comes from Merced County, in two installments: the first is due November 1 (delinquent after December 10) and the second February 1 (delinquent after April 10), with a 10% penalty after each date. These dates are set by California law and are the same in every county.
- Merced County Treasurer-Tax Collector — pay online, look up amounts due, or print a bill by parcel number or address.
- Merced County Assessor — check your assessed value, file a homeowners' exemption, or request a Proposition 8 review if your home is worth less than its assessed value.
- California property tax due dates — the full calendar, penalties, and what happens if you miss an installment.
County links go to official government sites; verify amounts there before paying.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the property tax rate in Merced, CA?
The typical property-tax rate in Merced is about 1.11% of assessed value — the 1% Proposition 13 base plus voter-approved debt. That's near the average across these California cities (~1.14%). Mello-Roos and fixed direct assessments, where a parcel has them, are billed on top.
How much is property tax in Merced?
The median single-family home in Merced is assessed at about $239,066 for existing owners (county parcel roll, computed October 2026; 24,583 single-family parcels), which works out to roughly $2,654 a year at 1.11%. Under Proposition 13 your assessed value is generally what you paid when you bought, rising no more than 2% a year — estimate your own bill with the calculator above.
How much is property tax on a home you buy in Merced — starter to typical?
Property tax in Merced runs about 1.11% of the price you pay, so a buyer's bill scales with the home — roughly $1,665 a year on a $150,000 home and about $3,330 on a $300,000 home. Existing owners are taxed on their lower Proposition 13 value instead — the median Merced single-family home is assessed near $239,066, for about $2,654 a year. Enter your own price in the calculator above.
Why do property tax rates vary within Merced?
Merced spans more than one Tax Rate Area (it has 173). The 1% base is the same everywhere, but each area adds its own voter-approved school, city, and special-district bonds, so two homes in Merced can pay slightly different total rates. The figure here is the typical rate across Merced's parcels.
What is the Merced property tax rate for 2026?
The 1.11% shown here is from Merced County's 2025-26 tax-rate book — the rate on the bills that came due in December 2025 and April 2026. The bills mailed in October 2026 are for fiscal year 2026-27: the 1% Proposition 13 base never changes, and the voter-approved debt rates on top of it are recalculated by the county each year, after the roll closes on July 1 and before the Board of Supervisors adopts the rates by October 3 (Gov. Code §29100), as bonds are paid down or sold, so the total usually moves by a few hundredths of a percent, not whole points. What does change for most owners is the assessed value: the Board of Equalization set the 2026-27 inflation factor at 2%, so a Merced home that did not sell or add construction is assessed 2% higher than last year and its bill rises about 2% if the rate holds. A home bought or built in the past year is taxed on its new base-year value instead, and usually gets a supplemental bill.
When are property taxes due in Merced?
Merced County bills Merced property taxes in two installments: the first is due November 1 (delinquent after December 10) and the second February 1 (delinquent after April 10), with a 10% penalty after each date. These deadlines are set by California state law and are the same countywide. Bills are issued and paid through the Merced County Treasurer-Tax Collector, not the city of Merced.
Learn More
New-construction figures: California HCD, Housing Element Annual Progress Report Table A2 (data.ca.gov), 2018–2025. Wells: California DWR Well Completion Reports (data.cnra.ca.gov), domestic wells since 2000 by reported city. Rate source: Merced County Auditor-Controller Tax Rate Area rates (fiscal year 2025-26) joined to the Merced County Assessor / GIS parcel roll (aggregates only, no parcel or owner data). The figure is the typical ad-valorem rate across Merced's parcels; your parcel's exact rate depends on its Tax Rate Area, and Mello-Roos or fixed direct assessments are extra. Typical value is the median assessed value of the city's single-family parcels, selected by the county Assessor's use codes (existing-owner Proposition 13 basis) — condos, apartments and commercial property excluded. Educational estimate, not an official bill.
Last reviewed: October 2026.