Property Tax in Corte Madera and Larkspur, CA: Prop 13, Two City Rates, and a Real Dollar Example

Proposition 13, in Plain Terms

California's Proposition 13, passed by voters in 1978, sets the framework for every property tax bill in the state, Corte Madera and Larkspur included. A property's assessed value is generally locked in at its purchase price at the time of sale (or the value of new construction when completed), and that assessed value can then rise by no more than 2% per year regardless of how fast the property's actual market value climbs -- until the next change of ownership resets it to the new purchase price. In a market where Corte Madera's own reported home values swung from a 5.8% Zillow-cited annual gain to a 34.3% Redfin-cited one within the same period, two nearly identical houses on the same street can carry very different tax bills purely because of when each one last changed hands. A longtime owner who bought decades ago can carry an assessed value a small fraction of a 2026 buyer's actual purchase price.

The base rate is capped at 1% of assessed value at the state constitutional level. Actual bills run above a flat 1% almost everywhere in California because voter-approved local add-ons -- city and county bond measures, school district bonds and parcel taxes, and in some subdivisions, Mello-Roos Community Facilities District assessments -- layer on top. Which specific add-ons apply to a given Corte Madera or Larkspur parcel depends on its exact tax rate area; Marin County has more than 200 distinct tax rate areas, each with its own combination of overlapping taxing districts, including the shared Larkspur-Corte Madera School District's own local levies.

Two Cities, Two Sourced Rates -- and a Gap With the County-Wide Range

This page states real numbers rather than hiding behind a refusal to give one, and it states each city's own figure separately rather than averaging them into a meaningless blend. Marin-focused property tax guides describe the county's general practical ad-valorem total -- base plus voter-approved add-ons, before any flat parcel tax -- running roughly 1.065% to 1.221% depending on the specific tax rate area for the 2025-26 fiscal year. Ownwell, a property-tax-appeal firm that publishes city-level effective-rate data, cites noticeably higher figures for each city individually: a 1.32% median effective rate and $12,902 median annual tax bill for Corte Madera, and a 1.34% median effective rate and $14,782 median annual tax bill for Larkspur. This page did not reconcile the gap between the general county range and Ownwell's city-specific figures to a single number; the two data sets likely reflect different underlying methodologies (a rate-area-based calculation versus an aggregate median-bill-over-median-assessed-value calculation), and a buyer should treat both as directional rather than a confirmed single rate for any specific parcel.

One further wrinkle in Ownwell's own Larkspur data: the firm's cited $1,067,834 "median home value" for Larkspur is dramatically lower than Redfin's or Zillow's current market-price figures for the city, which strongly suggests Ownwell's figure reflects median assessed value under Prop 13's purchase-price-plus-2%-cap mechanic -- itself a real illustration of how far a Prop 13 assessed value can lag actual market value across a city full of owners who bought at very different times. This page flags that distinction explicitly rather than treating Ownwell's "home value" figure as a market-price estimate.

Worked Dollar Examples for Both Cities

Put the more conservative end in real dollars for Corte Madera: at a 1.1% effective rate, a home purchased at Redfin's $2,098,744 May 2026 median would carry a first-year property tax bill near $23,090. At the higher, Ownwell-cited 1.32% rate, that same purchase works out to roughly $27,700 per year. For Larkspur, at a 1.1% rate, a home purchased near the $2,258,240 South Larkspur median (Redfin, May 2026) would run near $24,840 a year; at Ownwell's higher 1.34% Larkspur-specific rate, that same purchase runs closer to $30,260. These are illustrative, rate-times-price calculations for planning purposes only -- not a substitute for the Marin County Assessor's own parcel-specific figure, which is the only number that should be used to actually budget a specific purchase in either city.

Why the Seller's Current Tax Bill Is the Wrong Number to Budget From

Because Prop 13 resets assessed value to the purchase price at every change of ownership, a seller's current property tax bill in either city reflects whatever they paid -- possibly decades ago, possibly capped at 2% annual growth ever since. A Corte Madera or Larkspur listing showing a seller's tax bill based on a purchase from the 1990s or early 2000s tells a 2026 buyer almost nothing about their own future bill. Budget from the actual purchase price times a realistic current effective rate (roughly 1.1% to 1.34%, per the sourced range above for either city), not from whatever figure appears in the listing disclosures.

Portability and Exemptions

California's homeowner exemptions and transfer rules apply here the same way they do statewide. A modest homeowner's exemption reduces assessed value for an owner-occupied primary residence, though it's a relatively small dollar benefit against either city's price levels. Proposition 19 (approved 2020, effective in phases from 2021) lets eligible homeowners age 55+, severely disabled homeowners, and wildfire/disaster victims transfer their existing, lower assessed value to a replacement home elsewhere in California -- generally up to three times for age/disability-based moves -- which can matter meaningfully for a longtime California homeowner relocating into either Corte Madera or Larkspur and trying to avoid a full reassessment at current prices. Prop 19 also narrowed the prior parent-child transfer exclusion, generally now requiring the child to use an inherited home as their own primary residence to keep the parent's lower assessed value. This page does not restate every Prop 19 eligibility rule here; the Marin County Assessor's office maintains current guidance and forms.