Petaluma, CA · Updated Oct 2026

What a Petaluma 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 Petaluma house

$17,269a year · $1,439 a month

Starts at the typical market value, $878,600; your assessed value is often lower. Typical use.

Property tax$9,845
1.129% of $878,600, less $7,000 homeowners' exemption
Flat charges on the tax bill$74
Petaluma Joint Union High School District parcel tax (Measure C) $50 · Marin/Sonoma mosquito & vector control (MS-SONOMA MOSQUITO #1) $12 · SF Bay Restoration Authority parcel tax (Measure AA) $12
Electricity and gas$3,421
500 kWh a month $2,442 · 31.72 therms $979
Water and sewer$2,042
7 units (CCF) a month on City of Petaluma: water $70, sewer $100 a month
Trash$394
32-gal garbage, $33 a month
Home insurance$1,492
Typical premium $1,492

A Petaluma house at the typical market value ($878,600) pays about $17,300 a year: $9,920 property tax and charges, $2,040 water and sewer, $390 trash, $3,420 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

One change saves this house about $50 a year:

Seniors 65+: school parcel tax exemption
$50 a year
A parcel owned and occupied by a person 65 or older can be exempted from the Petaluma Joint Union High School District's $50-a-year parcel tax. The Petaluma City (Elementary) School District's parcel taxes have senior exemptions too. Once filed, a claim does not need to be filed again unless you move.
How: Send the Senior Citizen Parcel Tax Exemption Claim, with a copy of proof of age and of your property tax bill, to Petaluma City Schools, 200 Douglas Street, Petaluma; it must be received by May 1 to take effect for the tax year that starts July 1. Questions: (707) 778-4621.

Worth checking

Switch to the 20-gal garbage cartUp to $171 a year
Your cart costs $33 a month; the smallest costs $19. Worth it if you rarely fill it.
How: Call your garbage hauler.
Income-qualified households: PG&E CARE or FERA30–35% off electricity
CARE takes 30–35% off electricity and drops the base services charge to $6 a month; FERA takes 18% off for incomes slightly above the CARE limit.
How: Apply with PG&E; application forms are also available through community agencies.
Two free bulky item pickups a yearFree
Petaluma residents can schedule two free bulky item pickups per year. Each pickup takes up to one major appliance or bulky item; additional pickups cost $67.40 for 2 items under 100 pounds.
How: Call Recology customer service at 1.800.243.0291 to schedule a pickup.
Sewer lateral replacement grant50% of the cost, up to $2,000
The City's Sewer Lateral Replacement Grant pays 50% of the approved cost of replacing or repairing your private sewer lateral, up to $2,000. Only a complete replacement, or a repair that completely eliminates infiltration and inflow, qualifies; funds are first-come, first-served each fiscal year.
How: Submit the application with your paid invoice to the City's Water Resources & Utilities Department (202 North McDowell Blvd), in the same fiscal year (July 1 to June 30) as the replacement.
$75 rebate for a high-efficiency clothes washer$75 rebate
Residential water or sewer customers who replace a top-loading washer with a qualifying high-efficiency front-loading washer can get a $75 rebate from the City.
How: Apply through the City of Petaluma's water conservation rebate programs.

Adjust to match your bills

What you knowTrash cartThe price is set by the size of your garbage cart; the blue recycling cart and green compost cart are included.

Value before exemptionsEnter the net taxable value from your tax bill: under Prop 13 it is often well below what the house would sell for. Homes in the Petaluma City (Elementary) School District have different school bonds and two more parcel taxes, $75 (Measure D) and $89 (Measure E) a year. Some subdivisions also pay a landscape assessment district or community facilities district charge on the tax bill.

I live here and have the Homeowners' exemptionSomeone on the title is 65 or older

Home insurance, a yearFrom your policy. We start at $1,492, California statewide average, NAIC data for 2022 as published by 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 Petaluma house uses about 7.

Electricity, kWh a month

On your PG&E delivery with Sonoma Clean Power CleanStart generation bill. An electric car adds about 300 kWh.

Gas, therms a month (yearly average)

Money dates

Nov 1in 9 daysFirst property tax installment due; it becomes delinquent after Dec 10, 2026, with a 10% penalty.
Nov 30, 2026in 38 daysLast day of Sonoma County's 2026 assessment appeal filing period (opened July 2).
Feb 15in 115 daysLast day for a first-time homeowners' exemption claim to get the full exemption for that year.
May 1Deadline for seniors 65+ to file the Petaluma school parcel tax exemption for the next tax year.

Who serves this house

Water: City of Petaluma; City of Petaluma rates effective July 1, 2026, billed monthly: a $23.37 fixed monthly service charge for a 5/8" to 3/4" meter plus, for single-family homes, $6.43 per hcf for the first 4 hcf, $7.02 from 4.01 to 8 hcf, $7.87 from 8.01 to 16 hcf and $9.01 above 16 hcf
Property tax: 1.13% of value; 2026-27 tax year, Sonoma County (Petaluma tax rate area 003-011)
Garbage: Recology Sonoma Marin; Petaluma's franchised collector of garbage, recycling and compost. The monthly rate is set by the size of your garbage cart; recycling and compost carts are included.
Sewer: City of Petaluma; Billed monthly on the same bill as water. The residential use charge is based on your winter water use.
Electricity: Sonoma Clean Power generation, PG&E delivery; Sonoma Clean Power is the default electricity generation provider in Sonoma County; PG&E delivers the power and sends one monthly bill with both companies' charges.
Gas: PG&E; Petaluma is in PG&E's gas service territory.

Pay or manage your bills

Your water

Source: Petaluma buys its water from Sonoma Water; it comes from Lake Pillsbury, Lake Mendocino and Lake Sonoma by way of the Russian River and is collected 80 feet below the sand beds beside the river. The City also keeps a supply of local groundwater from wells more than 400 feet deep.
Hardness: Total hardness in 2025 averaged 170.60 ppm in the City's water (range 61 to 320) and 109.83 ppm in Sonoma Water's supply.
Lead: In the 2023 tap sampling, the 90th percentile lead level was 2.4 ppb and 0 of 30 sites were above the lead action level.
PFAS: The City of Petaluma says it will begin PFAS testing in 2026.

Other CA cities

How these numbers are made

Garbage: Recology Sonoma Marin's Petaluma residential rates effective July 1, 2026, listed as monthly costs: $18.58 for a 20-gallon garbage cart, $32.86 for 32 gallons, $62.34 for 64 gallons and $102.85 for 96 gallons, with recycling and compost carts included. The page starts at the 32-gallon cart.
Water and sewer: City of Petaluma rates effective July 1, 2026, billed monthly. Water: $23.37 service charge for a 5/8" to 3/4" meter plus $6.43, $7.02, $7.87 and $9.01 per hcf in four tiers (0-4, 4-8, 8-16 and over 16 hcf). The page starts at 7 hcf, the City's stated typical single-family use. Sewer: $45.80 fixed plus $10.85 per hcf, billed on the household's average winter water use (or actual use if lower). Because we do not know your winter average, we charge the use charge on your water use up to 5 hcf, the City's average winter use and the figure it assigns new customers; if your winter average is higher, your sewer charge is higher ($10.85 per extra hcf). Petaluma's adopted FY 2025-26 budget lists no tax on utility bills among its General Fund revenue categories (property, sales, business license, transfer, franchise fees and others), so none is added; we found no city stormwater fee on the utility bill.
Property tax: Sonoma County 2026-27 rates for tax rate area 003-011, read from a 2026-27 secured tax bill for a single-family home there: 1% Prop 13 rate, 0.007% Warm Springs Dam/Russian River Project, 0.048% Old Adobe Union School District bonds (2012 and 2018), 0.0475% Petaluma Joint Union High bonds (2014 and 2024) and 0.027% Sonoma County Junior College bonds (2002 and 2014), 1.1295% in all, less the $7,000 homeowners' exemption. TRA 003-011 has the most homeowners' exemptions of any Petaluma tax rate area in the county's 2026 code area recap (about 2,650). Flat charges on that bill: Petaluma Joint Union High parcel tax $50, Marin/Sonoma mosquito $12 and SF Bay Restoration Authority $12 ($74 in all). Homes in the Petaluma City (Elementary) School District (for example TRA 003-000) instead pay 0.0428% in elementary bonds (1.1243% in all) plus $75 (Measure D) and $89 (Measure E) elementary parcel taxes. Not included because they vary by subdivision: City landscape assessment districts and community facilities districts.
The starting home value is the Census ACS 2020-2024 median market value of owner-occupied homes ($878,600); under Prop 13 an owner who bought years ago has a lower assessed value and pays less. Enter the net taxable value from your tax bill.
Electricity: PG&E schedule E-1 (June 1, 2026) for a non-CARE (Income Tier 3) home with Sonoma Clean Power CleanStart generation. Delivery is PG&E's E-1 total rate ($0.32561 Tier 1, $0.40702 Tier 2) minus its $0.12855 generation charge and its ($0.01011) Bundled PCIA, which CCA customers do not pay; to that we add SCP's September 1, 2026 CleanStart E1 rate ($0.08099) and the $0.03745 PCIA and franchise fee from the PG&E-SCP comparison (PG&E rates as of March 1, 2026), which comes back to $0.32561 and $0.40702 per kWh. PG&E's $0.79343 a day base services charge is a separate fixed charge ($24.13 a month). The baseline is territory X's 9.8 kWh a day for the 4 summer months and 9.7 for the 8 winter months, about 296 kWh a month: PG&E's tariff puts only a described portion of Sonoma County bounded by the Pacific shoreline in territory T and all other parts in X, and Petaluma lies east of that portion. The PCIA depends on the year an account moved to SCP, so the comparison's value may differ from a given account. Not included: PG&E's semi-annual California Climate Credit.
Gas: PG&E G-1 (Oct. 1, 2026) $2.42480 and $2.92792 per therm plus the $0.12103 public purpose surcharge, territory X baseline weighted 7 summer, 3 off-peak and 2 on-peak months, about 30 therms a month. Typical use is PG&E's 2024 residential average (EIA, about 500 kWh a month) and California's 2024 residential gas average (EIA, about 32 therms a month). Insurance is the 2022 California average homeowners premium (NAIC via the Insurance Information Institute) until you enter your own.
Nothing here is legal, tax or insurance advice.

Sources

How Petaluma compares

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

Per year	Petaluma	Median	Where it falls
Property tax rate	1.13%	1.13%	lower than 58 of the other 109 California cities we cover
Water	$842	$955	lower than 76 of the other 109 California cities we cover
Sewer and utility-bill fees	$1,201	$584	higher than 74 of the other 76 California cities we cover
Trash	$394	$438	lower than 68 of the other 101 California cities we cover
Electricity and gas	$3,421	$3,556	lower than 75 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	$17,269	$15,240	higher than 78 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. Sewer and utility-bill fees

The fact: Sewer and flat utility-bill charges here come to about $1,201 a year, higher than 74 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 $1,201 a year, higher than 74 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 Petaluma house costs

What is the property tax rate in Petaluma?

About 1.13% of the value before exemptions a year (2026-27 tax year, Sonoma County (Petaluma tax rate area 003-011)), plus flat charges on the same bill (Petaluma Joint Union High School District parcel tax (Measure C) $50, Marin/Sonoma mosquito & vector control (MS-SONOMA MOSQUITO #1) $12, SF Bay Restoration Authority parcel tax (Measure AA) $12).

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

About $5,642 a year on $500,000 of the value before exemptions with the homeowners' exemption, including $74 of flat charges.

How much is the water bill in Petaluma?

About $170 a month for water and sewer at typical use (7 units, or 5,236 gallons a month) on City of Petaluma.

How much does trash pickup cost in Petaluma?

$19 to $103 a month, depending on the trash cart size (20-gal garbage, 32-gal garbage, 64-gal garbage, 96-gal garbage).

When is property tax due in Petaluma?

Nov 1: First property tax installment due; it becomes delinquent after Dec 10, 2026, with a 10% penalty.

Can seniors lower their property tax or bills in Petaluma?

Yes. Seniors 65+: school parcel tax exemption ($50 a year): A parcel owned and occupied by a person 65 or older can be exempted from the Petaluma Joint Union High School District's $50-a-year parcel tax. The Petaluma City (Elementary) School District's parcel taxes have senior exemptions too. Once filed, a claim does not need to be filed again unless you move.

Where can I get help paying utility bills in Petaluma?

Income-qualified households: PG&E CARE or FERA: CARE takes 30–35% off electricity and drops the base services charge to $6 a month; FERA takes 18% off for incomes slightly above the CARE limit. Apply with PG&E; application forms are also available through community agencies.

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

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