Property Tax 101

The median property tax (also known as real estate tax) in Santa Barbara County is $2,919.00 per year, based on a median home value of $576,500.00 and a median effective property tax rate of 0.51% of property value.

Santa Barbara 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, Santa Barbara County is ranked 17th by median property taxes, and 47th by median tax as percentage of home value.

Santa Barbara County has lower property taxes than many other California counties. The median home value is $576,500.00, compared to the median property value in California of $384,200.00

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17th out of 58 By median yearly property tax

47th out of 58 By percentage of median home value

18th out of 58 By percentage of median income

You can see how Santa Barbara 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 Santa Barbara County are the responsibility of the Santa Barbara County Tax Assessor, whose office is located in Santa Barbara, California.

If you need to pay your property tax bill, ask about a property tax assessment, look up the Santa Barbara County property tax due date, or find property tax records, visit the Santa Barbara County Tax Assessor's page. Applications for the Santa Barbara County homestead exemption, any property tax appeals, and applications for a current use tax reduction must also be submitted to the Santa Barbara 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 Santa Barbara County Property Tax Calculator to estimate your property tax based on median tax values (results open in new page).