California · County property tax · ACS 2024
Mendocino County Property Taxes
The median homeowner in Mendocino County pays $3,545 a year, an effective rate of 0.69%, far above the U.S. average.
- $3,545
- Median tax / yr · High bill
- 0.69%
- Effective rate · Below-median rate
- +78%
- vs U.S. average
- #36 of 58
- rank in CA
The verdict
Homeowners in Mendocino County pay a median $3,545 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 0.69%, more affordable than 61% of U.S. counties (Census ACS 2024).
- $3,545
- Median annual tax bill, 2024
- 0.69%
- Effective rate on median home
- #1228 of 3135
- U.S. counties by tax burden
- +78%
- vs the national average bill
Effective rate is the median property tax bill divided by the median home value ($512,200). U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2024.
Census Bureau ACS property tax data for California. Population: 90,244. Owner-occupied homes: 21,500.
The median annual property tax in Mendocino County is $3,545, which is 31% lower than the California state average and 78% above the national average. The effective tax rate is 0.69% on a median home value of $512,200. Property taxes represent 5.2% of the median household income in this county.
Why Mendocino County's ACS bill runs high vs the U.S.
Primary signal
The bill sits well above the national median
Homeowners in Mendocino County pay a median annual property tax of $3,545, far above the national median and well below the California state median. On a $512,200 median home, that works out to an effective rate of 0.69% once the local assessment base and millage are combined.
Decision signal 2
Income carries a heavy tax share
Property taxes in Mendocino County run a bit above the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 5.2% of the $68,092 median household income.
Decision signal 3
Near the middle of California counties by effective rate
Mendocino County ranks #36 of 58 counties in California by effective rate (38% of in-state counties pay a lower rate).
Decision signal 4
The effective rate sits near the national middle
Mendocino County's 0.69% effective rate sits near the middle of 3,135 tracked counties (more affordable than 61%).
Informational notice
Figures describe the median homeowner household in Mendocino County as reported to the Census Bureau; your parcel can differ. Not tax, legal, or financial advice: check the county assessor or a qualified professional before decisions that depend on these numbers.
The rate held while the market moved
Mendocino County sits in the quarter of U.S. counties whose effective rate moved least over this span: 0.0% down, against a median home value that rose 31.8%.
A near-steady rate on a moving market passes that movement straight through: the median bill rose 31.8%, from $2,690 to $3,545.
Effective rate is the published median bill divided by the published median home value, so the two multiply back to the bill exactly; the rate's movement here is derived from those two figures rather than read from the rounded published rate. Both are ACS 5-year survey estimates for the median owner-occupied household, compared across non-overlapping releases. They describe what the Census published, not a local policy, assessment, or exemption change.
How to read this county's bill
The bill here climbed steeply over 2020-2024, up 32% from $2,690 to $3,545. These ACS medians describe the reported change; they do not identify whether a levy, assessment, home value, or change in the responding households caused it.
The heaviest band is also the fullest one here: 11,495 of 21,500 owner-occupied homes (53.5%) report annual real-estate taxes above $3,000. That band has no upper edge in the source, so the county median understates the burden carried by the plurality rather than describing it.
Above-median earnings meet a slightly-below-median rate, and the median bill amounts to 5.2% of median household income. That is the comfortable middle of this dataset, and comfortable middles are easy to overlook when only rankings get published.
The share above is the median annual bill divided by median household income, a ratio of two county-level medians rather than a household-by-household figure.
What Mendocino County Homeowners Actually Pay
The single largest group of Mendocino County homeowners, 11,495 of 21,500 owner-occupied homes (53.5%), pays $3,000 or more a year. The median is one point in this spread, not a typical bill.
- Less than $800 7.1% (1,518)
- $800 to $1,499 7.7% (1,657)
- $1,500 to $1,999 4.8% (1,034)
- $2,000 to $2,999 19.8% (4,248)
- $3,000 or more 53.5% (11,495)
Census ACS 2024, table B25102. Bands and the no-tax share sum to 100%.
1,548 homes here (7.2%) report no real estate tax at all. Exemptions are set by state: how California handles assessments and appeals.
With vs Without Mortgage
Mortgaged homeowners in Mendocino County pay a substantially higher bill, 46% more, pointing to a wide home-value gap between the two groups.
Mendocino County's bill vs state & U.S. medians
Median annual bill bars around Mendocino County's HEAVY ACS 2024 figure.
Mendocino County's median bill is 31% below the California median and 78% above the U.S. median.
What changed since 2020
The median bill in Mendocino County moved from $2,690 in the 2020 release to $3,545 in 2024, a change of about 32%. These are American Community Survey 5-year estimates compared across releases that share only one sample year, which is why this page never compares consecutive releases: those overlap in four years of the same households and move mostly on sampling.
Mendocino County vs Benchmarks
| Metric | Mendocino County | California Avg | U.S. Avg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Annual Tax High bill | |||
| Effective Tax Rate Below-median rate | |||
| Median Home Value | |||
| Tax as % of income Highest-decile income burden | 5.2% | - | - |
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates. Tax-burden differences across rows reflect millage decisions, assessment-ratio practices, and the residential-vs-commercial mix of each tax base.
Is Mendocino County's $3,545 median bill appeal-worthy?
At Mendocino County's $3,545 ACS median (HEAVY), a 10% assessment cut is worth about $355/yr before exemptions. Appeal Savings Estimator · appeal guide for California.
Mendocino County bill trail · HEAVY
| Year | Median Tax (vs prior release) | Effective Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $3,545 +5.0% | 0.69% |
| 2023 | $3,376 +5.3% | 0.69% |
| 2022 | $3,207 +12.1% | 0.69% |
| 2021 | $2,862 +6.4% | 0.69% |
| 2020 | $2,690 | 0.69% |
Each row is a separate ACS 5-year release, and consecutive releases share four of their five survey years. The percentage beside each bill is therefore movement in the published estimate against the previous release, not a single year's tax change. The two releases largely describe the same households. For change over time, compare releases that do not overlap.
Mendocino County: tax takes 5.2% of income
Counties near Mendocino County's median bill
On effective rate, Mendocino County sits nearest Indian River County (FL), Cherokee County (GA), Gordon County (GA).
On published median-tax change, the nearest matches are Throckmorton County (TX), Graham County (NC), Crisp County (GA).
How peers are chosen
These are the nearest cross-state matches in the published Census data, not neighboring counties or recommendations. Peers are rebuilt with each data release; see the calculation method.
Similar effective rates
Similar published median-tax changes, 2020–2024
Mendocino County: only 8% of returns show Schedule A real-estate tax
Tax year 2022: 2,990 of 39,800 returns from Mendocino County reported real estate taxes, averaging $6,264 - 33% of those reporters sat in the $100-200k AGI band.
What this IRS county file does not say
Amounts are reported before the SALT cap, not deducted; the share is of filers, not homeowners. Source: IRS SOI county data, tax year 2022.
Other Counties in California
Mendocino County bill FAQs
- How does Mendocino County property tax compare to the national average?
- Property taxes in Mendocino County run far above the national median of $1,993, an effective rate of 0.69% versus 0.92% nationally.
- What percentage of income goes to property taxes in Mendocino County?
- Property taxes in Mendocino County run a bit above the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 5.2% of the $68,092 median household income.
- Are property taxes increasing in Mendocino County?
- The ACS median property-tax bill for Mendocino County jumped 31.8% between the 2020 and 2024 5-year releases, from $2,690 to $3,545, a 4-year span. These are survey estimates covering five years each, so this compares the two releases furthest apart rather than consecutive ones, which overlap and would mostly measure the same households twice.
- What is the average property tax in Mendocino County, California?
- The median annual property tax in Mendocino County is $3,545, an effective rate of 0.69% on a $512,200 median home (Census ACS, 2024).
- What is the tax affordability score for Mendocino County?
- Mendocino County, California scores F (21/100) on PlainPropertyTax's tax affordability composite across 5 Census ACS dimensions (effective rate, bill size, income share, mortgage gap, and home-value/income). Its strongest scored dimension here is rate relief at C+ (0.69%). The score compares published county medians to U.S. percentiles, it is not a personal bill and not advice to buy, sell, appeal, or relocate.
What to do with Mendocino County's HEAVY bill
Mendocino County's $3,545 median bill sits well above the U.S. median - size a personal estimate before treating the county headline as your budget. Estimate your bill →
Income burden is elevated here: about 5.2% of Mendocino County's $68,092 median household income goes to the property-tax bill.
Nationwide peers by median bill (then rate)
Bill-first peers for Mendocino County's HEAVY median, then a disjoint out-of-state rate set, not the same-state geography lattice.
Similar effective rate
Nearest out-of-state counties by ACS effective rate. This county: 0.69%.
Similar median bill
Nearest out-of-state counties by ACS median annual tax. This county: $3,545/yr. Rate peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Read with Mendocino County
Nearest ABS(median_tax) ACS peers for Mendocino County (QUIET · HEAVY), replacing the old fixed Keep exploring strip.
QUIET HEAVY
Linn County, IA
ABS(median_tax) peer · $3,547/yr (near-tied bill ABS $2); rate 1.66% vs Mendocino County 0.69%.
Pike County, PA
ABS(median_tax) peer · $3,542/yr (near-tied bill ABS $3); rate 1.30% vs Mendocino County 0.69%.
Hamilton County, IN
ABS(median_tax) peer · $3,549/yr (near-tied bill ABS $4); rate 0.88% vs Mendocino County 0.69%.
Fairbanks North Star Borough, AK
ABS(median_tax) peer · $3,550/yr (near-tied bill ABS $5); rate 1.19% vs Mendocino County 0.69%.
California county set
State ACS overview for every published California county rate and median bill.
Assessment cycle basics
Mendocino County stamps QUIET · HEAVY - how assessed value and millage become the ACS median bill.
Data vintage and method
Data as of 2024. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates.
Property tax data reflects median amounts paid by homeowners. Effective rates are calculated as median tax divided by median home value.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, county median real-estate taxes · 2024 Mendocino County (QUIET · HEAVY) - ACS medians, not a parcel bill.