Every home value assessment is reviewed by a local tax assessor/inspector at the time the property is sold or renovated. An onsite appraisal by the city tax assessors’ office follows a fixed schedule of guidelines. The property tax segment of your bill is calculated by the overall market value of the home, not by the price it was purchased for.
The Riverside median home list price is currently $325,000 for a 1,620 square foot home. Using this data, we can calculate the property tax rate of 1.102 percent which gives the total property tax for this home as $3,582.
Riverside property taxes vary according to the area. Local funds that the city or resident voters approve are assessed to provide funds for government services, municipal buildings and their upkeep, and salaries for city paid workers such as emergency staff and other employees.
Property sellers are required by law to give the new buyer “Notice of Special Tax” at the time of sale if the property is in a Mello-Roos controlled district. Even a property being sold “as is” has the required disclosure law as defined by the California Civil Code Section 1102.1. If your property is located in a part of an assessment district like Mello-Roos, you could be subject to a critically accelerated foreclosure lien. Property taxes with this levy must always be paid on time. If the homeowner is late paying property taxes at any time, your property is subject to actions such as accelerated foreclosure, legal fees, penalties, additional interest fees, and collection costs. It all adds up very quickly.
For an example, Riverside property owners of specific parcels that directly benefit from a city controlled project or services are billed for special tax fees and assessments. This involves Community Facilities Districts, (CFD’s) such as Mello=Roos that provides funds in Riverside for the construction of public improvements and municipal services.
The state of California government can also vote to have taxes added to every resident’s property tax bill through its Legislation. For example, the State wanted to encourage horse owners to breed, sell and raise prize race horses in agriculturally zoned areas of Riverside and other cities. The County of Riverside Economic Development Agency created a Bond Fund to make provisions for racehorses, graze lands were provided at a cost and the tax was applied to support the area. Special assessments and benefits for this enterprise positively affected these communities. Many other cities with agricultural grazing land developed similar bonds that were voted in as new line items for all community property owners involved.
Comparison of City Property Tax Bills
The Riverside Tax Levy System at WorkÂ
The city of Riverside Annual Property Tax bill has various line items for specified services provided by paid city employees, contractors, and local vendors who win bids from the city to provide services. One such contracting firm won funding from the Measure G fund to construct a new Fire Department Facility.
According to the Department of Energy, (DOE), SunShot Initiative, a statewide recognized line item that is showing up on most city property tax bills is the solar power retrofits used on public covered parking areas and rooftops of schools, municipal buildings, state parks, and properties that are not usable for other functions. When city residents, like in Riverside, vote to pass Bonds that fund these public facility solar installations, there is an increased community energy savings and even dividends are earned through the sale of electrical power back their city utility companies.
Comparing Riverside Property Tax with Other California Cities
Property values are determined by many factors, including price per square foot of living space. The price per square foot of a residence or commercial building is determined by the location, properties on the beach are  of higher value per square foot than properties in a valley near a mountain high flood area, for example. Property values differ by the size of a home. In many cities, new home development and community restoration projects increase the number of larger homes in that area, generating more income for that city. This creates an increase in property tax revenues for some cities, but individually, the California Constitution regulations keep the 1 percent property taxes at the same rate for all Cal state homeowners.
When we compare a property in Riverside, CA listing for $625,000 with the tax rate at 1.102 percent, the line one property tax bill total is $6,888.00., this means a resident of Riverside will pay higher tax for the same value property than Los Angeles, at 0.793 property tax rate comes to $4,956.00. The annual property tax assessed in San Diego for a single-family home of similar value of $$625,000. will be calculated with their property tax rate of 0.781 percent, the total  line one property tax is $4,881 annually.
How does Riverside Compare to Other Large Cities in the U.S.?
Included in all California property tax bills, the three sections of the billing form are similar but the contents of each section vary from city to city. General Tax Levies, this is the bill amount controlled by Proposition 13. It is limited to 1 percent of your current assessed property value, land, and improvements.
Let’s keep the same median current home listing price in Riverside, CA and compare property taxes of other National cities?
The Riverside median home list price is currently $325,000 for a 1,620 square foot home. Calculating  the Riverside property tax rate of 1.102 percent gives the total property tax for this home as $3,582. Houston, Texas residents will pay a property tax rate of 2.259 percent, nearly double the rate of Riverside, CA. So the folks who live in Houston, Harrison County, TX will pay an annual tax of $7,342. for a home in the $325,000. price range.
How do property tax rates compare on the East Coast?
In other parts of the nation, the property tax values also differ. Compare Riverside’s annual property tax rate of 1.102 percent to New York City, New York, where the property taxes are calculated at 1.925 percent of the property value, for a similar home as in Riverside, CA, residents in New York  City currently pay $6,256. annually. Great news, Riverside, CA residents save $2,674 in taxes annually compared to folks in the Big Apple!
Cities in Suffolk county, like Boston, MA, have a property tax rate of 0.862 percent. For a similar home valued at $325,000, Bostonians are paying annual property taxes of $2,892.
2 Point Highlight
1) The median California homeowner’s property tax is 74.3 percent higher than the national median rate, but this generates more income for California cities to keep up with the municipal infrastructure and community growth standards for a higher quality of life.
2) Homes have increased in size (square footage), over the past decades, the “price per square foot” of a home is not only affected by the area or city and state that we choose to live in but, the size of the home we purchase.
