El Monte, CA · Updated Oct 2026

What a El Monte 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 El Monte house

$11,595a year · $966 a month

Starts at $331,914 of value before exemptions. Typical use.

Property tax$4,418
1.360% of $331,914, less $7,000 homeowners' exemption
Flat charges on the tax bill$458
Sewer $125 · LA County Sanitation District No. 15 sewer service charge $212 · LA County Measure W Safe Clean Water tax (median single-family parcel) $91 · San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control assessment $20 · Metropolitan Water District water standby charge (Upper San Gabriel Valley MWD) $9
Electricity and gas$3,751
523 kWh a month $2,637 · 35 therms $869 · city utility tax $245
Water$1,027
10.33 units (CCF) a month on San Gabriel Valley Water Company (El Monte/Whittier system): water $86 a month
Trash$450
Basic service: 96-gallon trash, recycling and green waste carts, $37 a month
Home insurance$1,492
Typical premium $1,492

A typical El Monte house pays about $11,600 a year: $4,880 property tax and charges, $1,030 water, $450 trash, $3,750 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:

Seniors 62+: smaller carts at a discounted trash rate$31.60 a month instead of $37.46
Seniors at least 62 years old who are head of household can get Valley Vista's senior rate with 64-gallon carts: $31.60 a month instead of the $37.46 basic rate, subject to an application and City approval.
How: Submit a Refuse Rate Discount Application to Valley Vista Services; the City grants the discount once qualifications are verified. Questions: Environmental Division, 626-580-2058.
Low-income seniors 62+ and low-income residents with a disability: discounted trash$19.13 a month (50% off)
Seniors 62+ who head the household and meet HUD low-income eligibility, and residents with a permanent disability who meet it, can apply for discounted trash service. The rate schedule lists $19.13 a month (a 50% discount) for basic service and $17.30 a month with 35-gallon carts, subject to application and City approval.
How: Submit a Refuse Rate Discount Application to Valley Vista Services; the City grants the discount once qualifications are verified. Questions: Environmental Division, 626-580-2058.
Free bulky item pickup
Each single family home in El Monte is entitled to the free pick up and disposal of 20 bulky items each year, such as appliances, mattresses, sofas and tables.
How: Schedule at least one day ahead with Valley Vista Services at 800-442-6454 or valleyvistaservices.com/bulky-item; pickups take place on trash day.
Low-income households: San Gabriel Valley Water discount
San Gabriel Valley Water Company's Customer Assistance Program (CAP) gives qualifying low-income households a discount on water bills; households with a CARE discount on electric or gas may also qualify.
How: Submit the CAP application to the water company by hand, mail or email; renew every two years.
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 know

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. Homes in the Mountain View School District (about a quarter of the city) pay about 0.014% less; homes north of the Rio Hondo in another college district pay about 0.036% less.

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 El Monte house uses about 10.33.

Electricity, kWh a month

On your Southern California Edison 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: Depends on your address; San Gabriel Valley Water Co., City of El Monte Water and six others
Property tax: 1.36% of value; 2026-27 tax year, Los Angeles County
Garbage: Valley Vista Services; Curbside collection service for El Monte's single-family homes is provided by Valley Vista Services, the only waste disposal company permitted to operate in El Monte.
Sewer: City of El Monte + LA County Sanitation District No. 15; The City's sewer service charges are collected annually through the property tax roll; County Sanitation District No. 15 encompasses all or portions of El Monte.
Electricity: Southern California Edison; The City collects utility users' tax from Southern California Edison, the electrical company.
Gas: SoCalGas; Southern California Gas Company lists El Monte among the cities it serves.

Pay or manage your bills

Your water

Source: Except in its Whittier/Santa Fe Springs area, the company's 2025 water was groundwater from the Main San Gabriel Basin.
Standards: The company says the water it supplied in 2025 met all state and federal drinking water standards.
Lead pipes: Its service line inventory found no lead or galvanized service lines requiring replacement.

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 03621 and the others with the same rates, where about 61% of El Monte's 8,080 parcels coded single-family (use code 0100) sit: the 1% levy, the City's voter-approved retirement levy, the 2026-27 El Monte City School District, El Monte Union High School District and Rio Hondo Community College District bond rates from the LA County tax rate resolution, and the Metropolitan Water District's 0.0085%, less the $7,000 homeowners' exemption, applied to the value you enter. About 26% of single-family parcels are in the Mountain View School District (1.345585% in total) and about 13% are north of the Rio Hondo in another college district (about 1.3236%). The starting value is the median 2026 roll value of single-family parcels; Prop 13 values of long-held homes are far below market.
Sewer and flat charges on the tax bill for 2026-27: the City sewer service charge ($125.40 for a single-family parcel from July 1, 2026), LA County Sanitation District No. 15's $212 service charge (all of the city's single-family parcels fall in District No. 15 in the Sanitation Districts' boundary map), Measure W (2.5 cents per square foot of impermeable area), where we use the median for El Monte single-family parcels in the county's Safe Clean Water tax layer ($91.11), 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 (all of the city's single-family parcels). Not included: the LA County flood control assessment, the trauma and emergency services tax and the LA County park district assessment, which vary by parcel, and the special taxes of the Mountain View and El Monte Gateway community facilities districts and the Klingerman/Bonwood waste disposal service area, which cover only some neighborhoods.
Trash: Valley Vista Services' basic single-family rate effective January 1, 2026 ($37.46 a month for the three 96-gallon carts), billed by Valley Vista every quarter.
Water: eight companies serve El Monte. Placing each single-family parcel on the state water-system map: about 58% are in San Gabriel Valley Water's El Monte/Whittier system (the default here) and about 26% in the City of El Monte Water Department's system; the rest are on Cal-Am (San Marino), Golden State Water (South Arcadia), the Sterling, Hemlock and Del Rio mutual water companies or Arcadia, whose rates are not priced here (homes there see the default). San Gabriel: Schedule LA-1C rates effective July 20, 2026 ($32.78 for a 5/8 x 3/4-inch meter; $4.8334, $5.5582 and $7.2257 per Ccf for 0-10, 11-20 and over 20 Ccf) plus the LA-AS surcharges in effect now ($0.3397 CAP, $0.2830 until February 2027 and $0.0062 per Ccf, and the $4.45 monthly sur-credit through April 2027) and the 0.70% CPUC fee. City of El Monte: the 2026 bimonthly rates ($86.73 for a 5/8-inch meter; $0.610 per 100 gallons up to 125 units and $0.776 above) converted to monthly figures per 1,000 gallons. The page starts at 10.33 Ccf a month, San Gabriel's adopted single-family sales of 124 Ccf a year divided by 12 (the City's rate study puts median city-customer use at 120 units of 100 gallons every two months, about 8 Ccf a month).
Electricity: SCE's standard Domestic rate with SCE generation from the SCE/CPA joint rate comparison ($0.37392 per kWh in total, SCE rates as of June 1, 2026; its $195.56 average bill at 523 kWh equals that rate times the usage), plus SCE's $24.15 monthly Base Services Charge; El Monte is not a Clean Power Alliance member. Gas: SoCalGas's March 2026 average non-CARE bill ($72.39 at 35 therms), taken as including the $0.16-a-day customer charge (about $4.87 a month), so $4.87 a month plus $1.929 per therm. The City's 7% utility users' tax is added to both. 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 El Monte compares

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

Per year	El Monte	Median	Where it falls
Property tax rate	1.36%	1.13%	higher than 107 of the other 109 California cities we cover
Water	$1,027	$955	higher than 64 of the other 109 California cities we cover
Trash	$450	$438	higher than 55 of the other 101 California cities we cover
Electricity and gas	$3,751	$3,556	higher than 87 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	$11,595	$15,240	lower than 97 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. Property tax rate

The fact: El Monte's property tax rate is 1.36%, higher than 107 of the other 109 California cities we cover. The rate adds up every agency on the bill, not only the city.

Ask: "Property tax in El Monte is 1.36%, higher than 107 of the other 109 California cities we cover. What should that money pay for first, and would you change anything about how it is set?"

2. Electricity and gas

The fact: Electricity and gas for a typical house here cost about $3,751 a year, higher than 87 of the other 109 California cities we cover. Rates are set mostly by the utility and the state.

Ask: "Electricity and gas here cost about $3,751 a year for a typical house, higher than 87 of the other 109 California cities we cover. Which parts of that can the city influence, and what would you do about them?"

See who is running in your city →

Common questions about El Monte house costs

What is the property tax rate in El Monte?

About 1.36% of the value before exemptions a year (2026-27 tax year, Los Angeles County), plus flat charges on the same bill (Sewer $125, LA County Sanitation District No. 15 sewer service charge $212, LA County Measure W Safe Clean Water tax (median single-family parcel) $91, San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control assessment $20).

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

About $7,162 a year on $500,000 of the value before exemptions with the homeowners' exemption, including $458 of flat charges.

How much is the water bill in El Monte?

About $86 a month for water at typical use (10.33 units, or 7,727 gallons a month) on San Gabriel Valley Water Company (El Monte/Whittier system).

How much does trash pickup cost in El Monte?

$37 a month for a house.

When is property tax due in El Monte?

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 El Monte?

Yes. Seniors 62+: smaller carts at a discounted trash rate: Seniors at least 62 years old who are head of household can get Valley Vista's senior rate with 64-gallon carts: $31.60 a month instead of the $37.46 basic rate, subject to an application and City approval.

Where can I get help paying utility bills in El Monte?

Low-income seniors 62+ and low-income residents with a disability: discounted trash: Seniors 62+ who head the household and meet HUD low-income eligibility, and residents with a permanent disability who meet it, can apply for discounted trash service. The rate schedule lists $19.13 a month (a 50% discount) for basic service and $17.30 a month with 35-gallon carts, subject to application and City approval. Submit a Refuse Rate Discount Application to Valley Vista Services; the City grants the discount once qualifications are verified. Questions: Environmental Division, 626-580-2058.

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

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