San Diego County property values reach record $806 Billion

Good news: land in San Diego County has never been worth more.

The San Diego County Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk reported that the gross assessed value of all taxable properties—residential, commercial, and industrial—has reached a record $806 billion, the highest in county history.

That figure reflects a 4.95% increase, or $38 billion, over last year, following certification by Assessor Jordan Z. Marks.

Despite a 23% drop in home sales—the lowest since 2007—low housing inventory has helped keep prices strong, fueling steady growth in land values. Over the past three decades, San Diego County property values have risen almost every year, with declines only during the Great Recession, according to a news release.

“The 2025 tax roll shows that San Diego County is the gold standard in fairness, transparency, and putting taxpayers first based on having received a 98.5% positive customer service rating from our customers,” Marks said.

San Diego County is the fifth largest assessment jurisdiction in the U.S., with more than 1 million taxable real estate parcels, 55,478 business property accounts, 15,162 boats, and 1,562 aircraft.

After $32.2 billion in taxpayer savings, the county’s net assessment value stands at $773.9 billion. That translates into a record $7.73 billion in property tax revenue for schools, libraries, parks, public safety, fire protection, water, and other services—up $358.7 million from last year.

“My extraordinary San Diego Assessor team demonstrated leadership, meeting our commitment to closing the tax roll complete and on time,” Marks said. “If we don’t close the tax roll on time, then county services will be interrupted, taxpayers impacted, and we will see a cascading effect that would impact revenues for public safety, schools, libraries, parks, and key government services.”

Proposition 13, which caps annual property tax increases at 2%, protected more than 92% of properties—about 945,000 in total—and added $14.1 billion to the 2025 roll.

“Thanks to Proposition 13, no homeowner should lose their home due to unaffordable property taxes, and our local government agencies are receiving a stable and reliable record high revenue funding for the 13th straight year,” Marks said.

Additionally, Proposition 8 provided more than 17,500 property tax reductions due to temporary drops in market values. As residential prices rebounded, those reductions were restored, contributing another $14.1 billion to the roll.

The 2025 assessment also delivered over $322 million in tax savings for homeowners, disabled veterans, small businesses, affordable housing projects, homeless housing initiatives, and nonprofits.

“My office is number one in the State of California for serving disabled veterans with property tax relief due to our innovative and award-winning outreach programs and public-private partnership,” Marks said. “My Assessor team’s award-winning proactive outreach has delivered more housing affordability for San Diegans than ever before.”

While overall values rose, the number of active business accounts dropped 2.5%—a loss of 1,361 businesses—bringing the total to 55,478. Commercial parcels make up just 3% of total parcels but account for 13% of assessed value.

Downtown office properties were hit hardest, with vacancy rates around 35% driving down office values. Still, ARCC noted the impact on the overall roll was minimal, since downtown offices represent only 1.9% of total assessed value, the news release said.