Blog > Palo Alto Transfer Tax (2026): Rates, Examples and Who Pays
Palo Alto is one of three Santa Clara County cities with its own transfer tax. Here’s what a Palo Alto sale owes at common prices, what that comes to on a typical home, and who usually pays. To try your own price, open our transfer tax calculator.
The short answer
- County tax: $1.10 per $1,000 of the price.
- Palo Alto city tax: $3.30 per $1,000, at every price.
- Together: $4.40 per $1,000, so $13,200 on a $3 million sale.
- On a typical home: $17,600 on the median house of the past 12 months ($4M) and $6,600 on the median condo or townhome ($1.5M).
- Who usually pays: by local custom, per a 2024 Bay Area title-company chart, the seller pays the county tax and the buyer and seller split any city tax 50/50. All of it is negotiable, and the purchase contract decides.
Run your own numbers
- Our transfer tax calculator figures the total and the usual split at any price for San Francisco and the 31 Silicon Valley and Peninsula cities we cover.
- The seller net sheet adds commission, escrow and title to see what you’d walk away with.
- Talk to a Property Nerd about your sale or purchase.
Palo Alto transfer tax at common prices
| Sale price | County tax | City tax | Total | Buyer’s share* | Seller’s share* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $1,000,000 | $1,100 | $3,300 | $4,400 | $1,650 | $2,750 |
| $1,500,000 | $1,650 | $4,950 | $6,600 | $2,475 | $4,125 |
| $2,000,000 | $2,200 | $6,600 | $8,800 | $3,300 | $5,500 |
| $2,500,000 | $2,750 | $8,250 | $11,000 | $4,125 | $6,875 |
| $3,000,000 | $3,300 | $9,900 | $13,200 | $4,950 | $8,250 |
| $3,500,000 | $3,850 | $11,550 | $15,400 | $5,775 | $9,625 |
| $4,000,000 | $4,400 | $13,200 | $17,600 | $6,600 | $11,000 |
| $5,000,000 | $5,500 | $16,500 | $22,000 | $8,250 | $13,750 |
| $6,000,000 | $6,600 | $19,800 | $26,400 | $9,900 | $16,500 |
| $8,000,000 | $8,800 | $26,400 | $35,200 | $13,200 | $22,000 |
| $10,000,000 | $11,000 | $33,000 | $44,000 | $16,500 | $27,500 |
*By local custom; negotiable.
Next door
- Mountain View charges the same rate up to $6 million and 1.5% above it: Mountain View’s transfer tax.
- Los Altos and Los Altos Hills charge only the county tax: $3,300 on a $3 million sale, versus $13,200 in Palo Alto.
- Menlo Park and East Palo Alto are in San Mateo County: the San Mateo County transfer tax by city.
- Check the city limits. A mailing address isn’t always the city: some homes with a Palo Alto address sit in unincorporated county land, where only the county tax applies. Your escrow officer confirms it from the parcel’s tax rate area.
How we figured it
Each tax is computed the way county and city tables state it: the county tax is $0.55 for each $500 of price or part of $500, and the city rates apply to the price as shown above. Sale counts are closed sales of houses, condos and townhomes reported to the MLS and read through the IDX feeds that power our home search, with repeat records removed (same MLS number and sale date); a sale is placed by the city in its MLS address. This is general information, not tax or legal advice; your escrow officer’s figures are the ones that count.
Sources
Go deeper
See the transfer tax calculator, Palo Alto housing market by the numbers, Los Altos vs. Palo Alto and Menlo Park vs. Palo Alto.
Buying or selling? Ask a Property Nerd
We’ll walk you through every closing cost before you sign, including who pays which transfer tax in your contract. Call (408) 373-1660 or (650) 383-8606, or book a strategy call. Commissions are negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what’s included.