Monterey Property Tax Rate by City

Across Monterey County the ad-valorem property tax rate for most cities runs about 1.0457% to 1.2629% of assessed value, with a median near 1.1474% — the 1% Proposition 13 base plus each area's voter-approved debt. It's highest in Soledad (1.2901%) and lowest in Carmel Valley (1.0457%), because voter-approved school, city, and special-district bonds differ from area to area.

Monterey County's public parcel file publishes each parcel's situs city but not its situs ZIP code, and its mailing ZIP is protected taxpayer information we don't use. So this page keys the typical rate and bill on the situs city — the honest use of the data the county actually publishes. Within a city, rates still vary by Tax Rate Area; use the rate explorer to see your exact TRA or look up your parcel by APN.

The 1% Proposition 13 base is the same everywhere, but each Tax Rate Area adds its own voter-approved bond debt — school district bonds, the Monterey Peninsula / Hartnell College District, water and fire districts, and city bonds. Cities in areas with more approved bonds have higher total rates. A single city spans several Tax Rate Areas, so the figure shown is typical for the city, not your parcel's exact rate.

No. These are ad-valorem rates only (the 1% base plus voter-approved debt). Mello-Roos / Community Facilities District special taxes, parcel taxes, and fixed direct assessments are billed separately and can add hundreds to a few thousand dollars a year.

No — for Monterey it's the median assessed value across all property types in the city. Monterey County's public parcel layer doesn't publish a decode legend for its appraisal code, so we can't separate single-family homes from condos or income properties the way we do in other counties. The figure is a typical parcel (land + improvements, gross of exemptions), useful as a rough anchor rather than a single-family-specific value.