Arcadia, CA · Updated Oct 2026

What a Arcadia house pays

Property tax, water, trash and energy from public rates. Look up your address to make it yours, and see how to pay less.

Sent only to free public map services to find who serves it. Not stored unless you save your house.

Example · a Arcadia house

$18,839a year · $1,570 a month

Starts at $1,071,021 of value before exemptions. Typical use.

Property tax$11,984
1.126% of $1,071,021, less $7,000 homeowners' exemption
Flat charges on the tax bill$411
LA County Sanitation District No. 15 sewer service charge $212 · Arcadia Citywide Lighting District No. 1 (single-family home, Zone 2 local lights) $40 · LA County Measure W Safe Clean Water tax (median single-family parcel) $129 · San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control assessment $20 · Metropolitan Water District water standby charge (Upper San Gabriel Valley MWD) $9
Electricity and gas$3,655
523 kWh a month $2,589 · 35 therms $827 · city utility tax $239
Water and sewer$814
12 units (CCF) a month on City of Arcadia: water $54, sewer $9, city utility tax $4 a month
Trash$484
96-gallon trash, 64-gallon recycling and one organics cart (standard), $40 a month
Home insurance$1,492
Typical premium $1,492

A typical Arcadia house pays about $18,800 a year: $12,390 property tax and charges, $810 water and sewer, $480 trash, $3,660 electricity and gas, $1,490 home insurance. Estimated from public rates, not anyone's actual bill.

Rates checked Oct 21, 2026. Insurance: what you enter, or a typical premium until you do. Sources are listed at the bottom.

Ways to pay less

Nothing here applies to every house automatically. These are worth checking:

Switch to the 35-gallon trash, 64-gallon recycling and one organics cart cartUp to $58 a year
Your cart costs $40 a month; the smallest costs $36. Worth it if you rarely fill it.
How: Contact Waste Management at (800) 266-7551 or WM.com.
Seniors over 62: trash discount$36.60 a month instead of $40.36
Residents over the age of 62 qualify for a senior citizen discount. For 2026-27 the senior rate for a 96-gallon trash cart with recycling and one organics cart is $36.60 a month, against $40.36 for the standard rate.
How: Submit the City's Senior Verification form; questions to Public Works Services, (626) 254-2720.
Physical hardship: free backyard trash service
Backyard service is provided free for residents with a physical hardship.
How: Submit the City's Backyard Verification form; questions to Public Works Services, (626) 254-2720.
Bulky item pickups
The 2026-27 single-family rate schedule charges $53.43 for a bulky item pickup after 4 free ($48.09 at the senior rate).
How: Contact Waste Management at (800) 266-7551.
Seniors 62+ and veterans: 10% water discount10% off Tier 1 and the meter charge
Arcadia's Water Service Discount Program gives a 10% discount to primary account holders who are 62 or older, or who served in the U.S. Armed Forces, and who live on the property, a single-family home in Arcadia; it applies only to Tier 1 water and the meter service charge.
How: Send the Water Service Discount Application with ID (and a DD Form 214 for veterans) to Public Works Services, 11800 Goldring Rd.; (626) 254-2700, wb@ArcadiaCA.gov.
Low-income households: water discount and utility tax exemption
Arcadia's Water Service Discount Program has a low-income option of 3 units a month and an exemption from the utility users tax, for households with income at or below 50% of the Los Angeles County median; it must be renewed yearly.
How: Send the Water Service Discount Application with income documents to Public Works Services; (626) 254-2700, wb@ArcadiaCA.gov.
Low-income seniors over 62: Safe, Clean Water parcel tax exemptionNo Safe, Clean Water tax
Owners over 62 who live in the home and head a low-income household can apply for an exemption from the Safe, Clean Water Program special parcel tax; the FY 2027-28 limit is $106,600 for a 2-person household.
How: Submit the claim form to the Safe, Clean Water Program by May 1 each year; call 833-275-7297.
Low water use: reduced sanitation district charge
District No. 15 parcels with significantly lower water usage may be eligible for a reduced service charge; dischargers with verified low water usage, particularly seniors and retirees, may qualify.
How: Apply to the Sanitation Districts' low water rebate program.

Adjust to match your bills

What you knowTrash cartEach rate is the total for one trash cart, one 64-gallon recycling cart, the AB 939 fee and one organics cart. Extra organics carts raise the total; the 35- and 64-gallon trash carts cost the same.

Value before exemptionsUnder Prop 13 your assessed value starts at your purchase price and can rise at most 2% a year, so it is often far below market: use the assessed value on your tax bill.

I live here and have the Homeowners' exemption

Home insurance, a yearFrom your policy. We start at $1,492, NAIC data via the Insurance Information Institute; California figures from the California Department of Insurance.

Earthquake insurance, a yearSeparate from home insurance. Most owners don't have it.

Your use

Water, units a month

On your water bill. 1 unit (CCF) is 748 gallons. A typical Arcadia house uses about 12.

Electricity, kWh a month

On your Clean Power Alliance (Lean Power) with Southern California Edison delivery bill. An electric car adds about 300 kWh.

Gas, therms a month (yearly average)

Money dates

Nov 30, 2026in 38 daysLast day to file a 2026 regular assessment appeal in LA County (filing runs July 2 to November 30).
Dec 10in 48 daysFirst property tax installment (due Nov 1) is late after Dec 10: 10% penalty.
Feb 15in 115 daysLast day for a first-time homeowners' exemption claim to get the full exemption for the year.
Apr 10Second property tax installment (due Feb 1) is late after Apr 10: 10% penalty plus $10.

Who serves this house

Water: City of Arcadia; City of Arcadia 2026 water rates, billed monthly since January 2026: a monthly meter service charge ($21.31 for a 5/8-inch or 3/4-inch meter) plus single-family rates per hundred cubic feet (HCF): $2.61 for 0-8, $3.03 for 9-26 and $3.53 above 26.
Property tax: 1.13% of value; 2026-27 tax year, Los Angeles County
Garbage: Waste Management; The City contracts with Waste Management for residential trash and recycling collection; residential trash is collected every Wednesday.
Sewer: City of Arcadia + LA County Sanitation Districts; The City provides sewer service; County Sanitation District No. 15 encompasses all or portions of Arcadia.
Electricity: Clean Power Alliance (Lean Power) + Southern California Edison; Arcadia's preferred energy option with Clean Power Alliance is Lean Power; SCE delivers the electricity.
Gas: SoCalGas; Southern California Gas Company serves natural gas in Arcadia.

Pay or manage your bills

Your water

Source: Groundwater from wells in the Main San Gabriel Basin and the Raymond Basin.
Hardness: Hardness averaged 210 mg/l as CaCO3 (range 23 to 340).
Lead: Lead was not detected at any of the 30 residences sampled in September 2025, and the 2024 inventory found no lead service lines.
PFOS: PFOS averaged 7.6 ng/l (range ND to 8.4); its state notification level was revised to 4.0 ng/l effective October 29, 2025.

Other CA cities

How these numbers are made

Individual bills are confidential in California, so we calculate yours from public rates and what you tell us.
Property tax: tax rate area 01887 and the others with the same rates, which cover about 97% of Arcadia's 9,960 single-family parcels (LA County use codes 0100 and 0101, the second being homes with a pool): the 1% levy, the City's 2021 general obligation refunding bond rates (0.001993% for Measure A and 0.001565% for the Police Station, adopted August 18, 2026), the 2026-27 Arcadia Unified and Pasadena Area Community College District bond rates from the LA County tax rate resolution and the Metropolitan Water District's 0.0085% (1.126256% in total), less the $7,000 homeowners' exemption, applied to the value you enter. About 1.7% of single-family parcels pay 1.123751% and about 0.9% pay 1.159363% (other school and college bond rates). The starting value is the median 2026 roll value of those parcels; Prop 13 values of long-held homes are far below market.
Flat charges on the tax bill for 2026-27: LA County Sanitation District No. 15's $212 sewer service charge (all but a handful of the city's single-family parcels fall in District No. 15 in the Sanitation Districts' boundary map), the Arcadia Citywide Lighting District No. 1 at $40.33 for a single-family home in Zone 2 (local lights; 8,729 of the 9,247 single-family parcels levied; the 518 in Zone 1 pay $23.69, and parcels in sparsely lit areas get reductions of $8.07 or $4.74), Measure W (2.5 cents per square foot of impermeable area), where we use the median for Arcadia single-family parcels in the county's Safe Clean Water tax layer ($128.95), the San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District's $20 per parcel and the Metropolitan Water District's $9.27 standby charge for Upper San Gabriel Valley MWD lands. Not included: the LA County flood control assessment, the trauma and emergency services tax and the county park district assessment, which vary by parcel.
Trash: Waste Management's 2026-27 single-family rates adopted June 16, 2026 (Resolution No. 7700), taken as monthly: $40.36 for the standard 96-gallon trash cart with a 64-gallon recycling cart, the $0.30 AB 939 fee and one organics cart, and $35.51 with a 35- or 64-gallon trash cart. Rates adjust every July 1 through 2030-31.
Water and sewer: placing each single-family parcel on the state water-system map, about 97% are in the City of Arcadia's system (the default here); about 1.7% are in Cal-Am's East Pasadena system, 1.3% in Golden State Water's South Arcadia system and a few on Sunny Slope or Monrovia, whose rates are not priced here (homes there see the default). City rates effective January 1, 2026 and billed monthly ($21.31 meter charge for a 5/8- or 3/4-inch meter; $2.61, $3.03 and $3.53 per HCF for 0-8, 9-26 and over 26 HCF; sewer $9.05 a month). The schedule rises again on January 1, 2027 ($23.87; $2.93, $3.40, $3.96; sewer $9.60). The page starts at 12 HCF a month, the typical single-family use in the City's 2025 rate study (its median bill level). Arcadia's 7% utility users tax is added to water and sewer as well as electricity and gas (rate set in 2013, per the City's 2018 annual report and the UUT information site).
Electricity: SCE's joint rate comparison with Clean Power Alliance for the Domestic rate with CPA Lean Power, Arcadia's preferred energy option ($0.36641 per kWh in total; SCE rates as of June 1, 2026 and CPA rates as of July 1, 2026; its $191.63 average bill at 523 kWh equals that rate times the usage), plus SCE's $24.15 monthly Base Services Charge. Customers who opted out to SCE generation pay $0.37392. Gas: SoCalGas's August 2026 average non-CARE bill ($68.91 at 35 therms), taken as including the $0.16-a-day customer charge (about $4.87 a month), so $4.87 a month plus $1.830 per therm. Both are averages; real bills vary by season. Insurance starts at the 2022 California average.
Nothing here is legal, tax or insurance advice.

Sources

How Arcadia compares

A typical Arcadia house against the 110 California cities we cover, using the same default numbers as the total above.

Per year	Arcadia	Median	Where it falls
Property tax rate	1.13%	1.13%	lower than 60 of the other 109 California cities we cover
Water	$652	$955	lower than 97 of the other 109 California cities we cover
Sewer and utility-bill fees	$162	$584	lower than 64 of the other 76 California cities we cover
Trash	$484	$438	higher than 68 of the other 101 California cities we cover
Electricity and gas	$3,655	$3,556	higher than 68 of the other 109 California cities we cover
Home insurance	$1,492	$1,492	in the middle of 108 other California cities we cover
Total	$18,839	$15,240	higher than 83 of the other 109 California cities we cover

Cities bill differently (some put trash on the tax bill, some cover more services), so a higher number isn't necessarily worse. The property tax rate is compared instead of dollars because house values differ.

Questions to ask your candidates

Each one starts from a number above. Any candidate can answer them.

1. Water

The fact: Water here costs about $652 a year at typical use, lower than 97 of the other 109 California cities we cover.

Ask: "Water here costs about $652 a year at typical use, lower than 97 of the other 109 California cities we cover. What drives that cost, and would you change anything?"

2. Sewer and utility-bill fees

The fact: Sewer and flat utility-bill charges here come to about $162 a year, lower than 64 of the other 76 California cities we cover. Some cities bill sewer on the property tax bill instead, which is not counted here.

Ask: "Sewer and flat utility-bill charges here cost about $162 a year, lower than 64 of the other 76 California cities we cover. What drives that cost, and would you change anything?"

See who is running in your city →

Common questions about Arcadia house costs

What is the property tax rate in Arcadia?

About 1.13% of the value before exemptions a year (2026-27 tax year, Los Angeles County), plus flat charges on the same bill (LA County Sanitation District No. 15 sewer service charge $212, Arcadia Citywide Lighting District No. 1 (single-family home, Zone 2 local lights) $40, LA County Measure W Safe Clean Water tax (median single-family parcel) $129, San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control assessment $20).

How much is property tax on a $500,000 house in Arcadia?

About $5,963 a year on $500,000 of the value before exemptions with the homeowners' exemption, including $411 of flat charges.

How much is the water bill in Arcadia?

About $63 a month for water and sewer at typical use (12 units, or 8,976 gallons a month) on City of Arcadia.

How much does trash pickup cost in Arcadia?

$36 to $40 a month, depending on the trash cart size (35-gallon trash, 64-gallon recycling and one organics cart, 64-gallon trash, 64-gallon recycling and one organics cart, 96-gallon trash, 64-gallon recycling and one organics cart (standard)).

When is property tax due in Arcadia?

Dec 10: First property tax installment (due Nov 1) is late after Dec 10: 10% penalty. Apr 10: Second property tax installment (due Feb 1) is late after Apr 10: 10% penalty plus $10.

Can seniors lower their property tax or bills in Arcadia?

Yes. Seniors over 62: trash discount: Residents over the age of 62 qualify for a senior citizen discount. For 2026-27 the senior rate for a 96-gallon trash cart with recycling and one organics cart is $36.60 a month, against $40.36 for the standard rate.

Where can I get help paying utility bills in Arcadia?

Physical hardship: free backyard trash service: Backyard service is provided free for residents with a physical hardship. Submit the City's Backyard Verification form; questions to Public Works Services, (626) 254-2720.

How much does a house in Arcadia cost to run each year?

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