La Quinta, CA · Updated Oct 2026

What a La Quinta 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 La Quinta house

$14,675a year · $1,223 a month

Starts at the typical market value, $661,600; your assessed value is often lower. Typical use.

Property tax$7,986
1.220% of $661,600, less $7,000 homeowners' exemption
Flat charges on the tax bill$466
Sewer $406 · Coachella Valley mosquito, fire ant and disease control assessment $14 · La Quinta Landscape and Lighting Assessment District 89-1 $36 · County Service Area 152 (La Quinta street sweeping, drainage and flood control) $10
Electricity and gas$3,913
1070 kWh a month $3,086 · 35 therms $827
Water$477
20 units (CCF) a month on Coachella Valley Water District: water $40 a month
Trash$340
Single-family service, tax-roll billing, $28 a month
Home insurance$1,492
Typical premium $1,492

A La Quinta house at the typical market value ($661,600) pays about $14,700 a year: $8,450 property tax and charges, $480 water, $340 trash, $3,910 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:

Income-qualified: IID 20% electric discount20% off the electric bill
Imperial Irrigation District's Residential Energy Assistance Designed for You program gives income-qualifying customers a 20 percent discount on their electric bill.
How: Complete a READY application with proof of income and return it to IID; IID customer service: 1-760-339-9032.
Seniors 60+: IID READY 30% discount30% off the electric bill
IID offers a 30 percent READY discount to qualifying customers age 60 or older; participants 60 or older reapply every three years.
How: Complete a READY application with proof of income and return it to IID; IID customer service: 1-760-339-9032.
Income-qualified: SoCalGas CARE20% off the gas bill
You may qualify for 20% off your monthly natural gas bill through SoCalGas's CARE program if you or someone in your household receives benefits such as Medi-Cal or CalFresh, or by household income.
How: Apply with SoCalGas's online CARE application.
Free bulky item pickup
Burrtec's bulky item pick-up is free to La Quinta residents for up to four pieces each week.
How: Call Burrtec customer service at (760) 340-2113 to schedule a pickup.
Bigger household? Indoor water budgets can be increased
CVWD's default indoor water budget for homeowners is 8 ccf, based on four people; indoor budgets can be increased for homes with more than four people.
How: Contact Coachella Valley Water District about your home's indoor water budget: (760) 391-9600, www.cvwd.org.

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.

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 La Quinta house uses about 20.

Electricity, kWh a month

On your Imperial Irrigation District (IID) 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 Riverside County (filing period July 2 to November 30, 2026).
Dec 10in 48 daysFirst property tax installment is due Nov 1 and becomes delinquent Dec 10; taxes not paid by the delinquent date get a 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 is due Feb 1 and becomes delinquent Apr 10; taxes not paid by the delinquent date get a 10% penalty.

Who serves this house

Water: Coachella Valley Water District; CVWD bills a monthly fixed charge by meter size plus water budget-based tiers per ccf: Tier 1 up to 8 ccf, Tier 2 up to 100% of your water budget, Tier 3 from 101% up to 175%, Tier 4 from 176% up to 300%, and Tier 5 at 300% or more of the budget.
Property tax: 1.22% of value; 2026-27 tax year, Riverside County (tax rate area 020-000, La Quinta: Desert Sands Unified, Desert Community College and CVWD State Water Project)
Garbage: Burrtec Waste & Recycling Services; La Quinta has an exclusive franchise agreement with Burrtec for solid waste, recycling, organics and household hazardous waste services; single-family service charges are collected through the County property tax roll.
Sewer: Coachella Valley Water District; CVWD charges residential sewer service per Equivalent Sewer Unit, and most residential customers are billed for sewer on their property tax bills.
Electricity: Imperial Irrigation District (IID); The City of La Quinta lists the Imperial Irrigation District (IID) for electricity.
Gas: SoCalGas; The City of La Quinta lists Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) for natural gas.
Schools: Desert Sands Unified + Desert Community College; La Quinta's tax rate area 020-000 includes Desert Sands Unified School District and Desert Community College; some La Quinta tax rate areas are in Coachella Valley Unified instead.

Pay or manage your bills

Your water

Source: CVWD delivers water to customers from wells drilled into the Coachella Valley's groundwater basin; its Cove Communities system includes La Quinta.
Chromium-6: Chromium-6 was detected in the Cove Communities system at levels that exceed California's Cr-6 MCL (10 µg/L); the system is not considered in violation until after October 1, 2026, and CVWD submitted a compliance plan to the State Water Resources Control Board's Division of Drinking Water (DDW) on October 13, 2025.
Lead: CVWD has determined it has no lead or galvanized pipes requiring replacement service lines in its distribution system, including privately-owned or customer-owned service lines.

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.
Water: La Quinta is in Coachella Valley Water District's Cove Communities system, so the page uses CVWD's domestic rates effective July 1, 2025 (still CVWD's posted rates): a $14.71 monthly fixed charge for the 3/4-inch meter most single-family homes use, Tier 1 ($1.09) up to 8 ccf and Tier 2 ($1.36) up to 100% of the water budget. Budgets are set for each home, so we model CVWD's own typical residential customer at 20 ccf a month (from CVWD's June 2024 rate report) as 100% of budget: Tier 3 ($4.18) up to 35 ccf (175%), Tier 4 ($4.90) up to 60 ccf (300%), Tier 5 ($7.49) above.
Sewer and trash are on the property tax bill. Sewer: CVWD's residential charge, $1.91 a month plus $31.96 per ESU, is $406.44 a year for a 1-ESU home. Trash: Burrtec's fiscal year 2026/27 single-family tax-roll rate, $28.37 a month ($340.44 a year), placed on the tax roll by Council Resolution 2026-011 (June 2, 2026). Some homes may still be on septic or have extra Burrtec services (an additional cart, backyard service, a second PGA pick-up day), which change these lines.
Property tax: Riverside County's 2026-27 rates (Resolution 2026-153, adopted August 25, 2026) for tax rate area 020-000, the area named La Quinta in the Auditor-Controller's lists: the 1% levy, Desert Sands Unified (0.075%), Desert Community College (0.035%) and CVWD's State Water Project rate (0.11%), about 1.22% in total, less the $7,000 homeowners' exemption, applied to the value you enter. About 31 of La Quinta's 78 tax rate areas are in Coachella Valley Unified instead (0.09719% in 2026-27, so about 0.022 points higher). The starting value is the Census median market value; under Prop 13 a home's assessed value can be far lower.
Fixed charges on the tax bill: the Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District's assessment ($14.39 per single-family home in Zone A, FY 2026-27), La Quinta's Landscape and Lighting Assessment District 89-1 ($35.60 per equivalent benefit unit; a single-family parcel is one unit; FY 2026/27 levy confirmed at the June 16, 2026 hearing) and County Service Area 152 for La Quinta's street sweeping and drainage ($9.99 per benefit assessment unit, counted as one unit for a house; adopted by Resolution 2026-003, March 17, 2026). Not included because they apply only to some parcels or could not be confirmed for La Quinta: school and other Community Facilities District special taxes on newer tracts, CVWD availability charges, and a Desert Recreation District assessment. HOA dues in gated communities are billed by the HOA, not on the tax bill, and are not included. Desert Recreation District's Measure P parcel tax (5 cents per square foot) is on the November 3, 2026 ballot and is not included.
Electricity: IID's Schedule D residential rate effective January 1, 2026 ($11.40 a month plus 22.30 cents per kWh, the same all year), with IID's 2.85% public benefits charge applied to both ($11.72 plus 22.94 cents per kWh) and the Energy Cost Adjustment at zero as IID's rate update states; we start at IID's 1,070 kWh monthly residential average. 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. Insurance starts at the 2022 California average.
Nothing here is legal, tax or insurance advice.

Sources

How La Quinta compares

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

Per year	La Quinta	Median	Where it falls
Property tax rate	1.22%	1.13%	higher than 90 of the other 109 California cities we cover
Water	$477	$955	lower than 105 of the other 109 California cities we cover
Trash	$340	$438	lower than 92 of the other 101 California cities we cover
Electricity and gas	$3,913	$3,556	higher than 95 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	$14,675	$15,240	lower than 64 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: La Quinta's property tax rate is 1.22%, higher than 90 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 La Quinta is 1.22%, higher than 90 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. Water

The fact: Water here costs about $477 a year at typical use, lower than 105 of the other 109 California cities we cover.

Ask: "Water here costs about $477 a year at typical use, lower than 105 of the other 109 California cities we cover. What drives that cost, and would you change anything?"

3. Trash

The fact: Trash pickup here costs about $340 a year for the standard cart, lower than 92 of the other 101 California cities we cover. Where trash is billed through the tax bill or a separate hauler, it is not counted here.

Ask: "Trash pickup here costs about $340 a year for the standard cart, lower than 92 of the other 101 California cities we cover. What drives that cost, and would you change anything about the service or the price?"

4. Electricity and gas

The fact: Electricity and gas for a typical house here cost about $3,913 a year, higher than 95 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 $3,913 a year for a typical house, higher than 95 of the other 109 California cities we cover. Which parts of that can the city influence, and what would you do about them?"

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Common questions about La Quinta house costs

What is the property tax rate in La Quinta?

About 1.22% of the value before exemptions a year (2026-27 tax year, Riverside County (tax rate area 020-000, La Quinta: Desert Sands Unified, Desert Community College and CVWD State Water Project)), plus flat charges on the same bill (Sewer $406, Coachella Valley mosquito, fire ant and disease control assessment $14, La Quinta Landscape and Lighting Assessment District 89-1 $36, County Service Area 152 (La Quinta street sweeping, drainage and flood control) $10).

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

About $6,481 a year on $500,000 of the value before exemptions with the homeowners' exemption, including $466 of flat charges.

How much is the water bill in La Quinta?

About $40 a month for water at typical use (20 units, or 14,960 gallons a month) on Coachella Valley Water District.

How much does trash pickup cost in La Quinta?

$28 a month for a house.

When is property tax due in La Quinta?

Dec 10: First property tax installment is due Nov 1 and becomes delinquent Dec 10; taxes not paid by the delinquent date get a 10% penalty. Apr 10: Second property tax installment is due Feb 1 and becomes delinquent Apr 10; taxes not paid by the delinquent date get a 10% penalty.

Can seniors lower their property tax or bills in La Quinta?

Yes. Seniors 60+: IID READY 30% discount: IID offers a 30 percent READY discount to qualifying customers age 60 or older; participants 60 or older reapply every three years.

Where can I get help paying utility bills in La Quinta?

Income-qualified: IID 20% electric discount: Imperial Irrigation District's Residential Energy Assistance Designed program gives income-qualifying customers a 20 percent discount on their electric bill. Complete a READY application with proof of income and return it to IID; IID customer service: 1-760-339-9032.

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

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