Property Tax 101

The median property tax (also known as real estate tax) in Kern County is $1,746.00 per year, based on a median home value of $217,100.00 and a median effective property tax rate of 0.80% of property value.

Kern County collects relatively high property taxes, and is ranked in the top half of all counties in the United States by property tax collections. Of the fifty-eight counties in California, Kern County is ranked 35th by median property taxes, and 3rd by median tax as percentage of home value.

While Kern County collects a median of 0.80% of a property's each year as property tax, the actual amount of property tax collected is lower compared to the rest of California. This is partially because the median property value in Kern County is $167,100.00 lower than the California median property value of $384,200.00.

• County Tax Comparison
• National Tax Comparison
• Other California Counties
• Property Lookup

35th out of 58 By median yearly property tax

3rd out of 58 By percentage of median home value

37th out of 58 By percentage of median income

You can see how Kern County (highlighted in green) compares to the fifty-eight other counties in California with the bar chart above, sorted by median property tax in dollars. For a visual map of county property tax rates in California, see our California county property tax map.

Remember: Real estate prices also play a large part in which California counties have the highest and lowest median property taxes. Higher-valued properties will generally have higher taxes, even if the median percentage of home value levied as property tax is different. For comparisons, you can also use Percentage Of Home Value.

Property tax assessments in Kern County are the responsibility of the Kern County Tax Assessor, whose office is located in Bakersfield, California.

If you need to pay your property tax bill, ask about a property tax assessment, look up the Kern County property tax due date, or find property tax records, visit the Kern County Tax Assessor's page. Applications for the Kern County homestead exemption, any property tax appeals, and applications for a current use tax reduction must also be submitted to the Kern County Assessor's Office.

For some properties, you can easily find the most recent tax assessment by looking up the property address with our property records search. You can also use our Kern County Property Tax Calculator to estimate your property tax based on median tax values (results open in new page).