Who Pays Closing Costs in California? Escrow, Title and Transfer Tax
In most of Northern California, the buyer customarily pays the escrow fee and the owner’s title insurance policy, and the seller pays the county transfer tax. That flips in some counties: in Santa Clara and Sacramento the seller customarily pays escrow and the owner’s policy, and in Placer, El Dorado, Nevada and Santa Cruz both are customarily split. Custom is only a starting point. Every one of these costs is negotiable, and your purchase contract, not the law, decides who pays.
This guide puts the 2026 customs for the counties Diamond serves in one table, explains what each cost is, and works through the transfer tax on a $1,000,000 sale in several cities. The county customs come from the 2026 California Customary Practices Guides published by Chicago Title and Ticor Title, checked against county recorder pages. If you are selling, pair this with our seller net sheet guide; if you are buying, our home buying process hub covers the rest of the transaction.
Who pays what, county by county
The table shows customary practice for residential resales. “Split” means the parties customarily share the cost, usually half each. The county documentary transfer tax is $1.10 per $1,000 of value everywhere in the table except San Francisco, where it is folded into the city’s own tax.
| County | Escrow fee | Owner’s title policy | County transfer tax | City transfer taxes (who customarily pays) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sonoma | Buyer | Buyer | Seller | Santa Rosa $2.00, Petaluma $2.00 per $1,000 (seller) |
| Napa | Buyer | Buyer | Seller | None listed |
| Marin | Buyer | Buyer | Seller | San Rafael $2.00 per $1,000 (seller); Measure W on the November 3, 2026 ballot |
| San Francisco | Buyer | Buyer | Included in city tax | Tiered city rate, $5.00 to $60.00 per $1,000 (seller) |
| Solano | Buyer | Buyer | Seller | Vallejo $3.30 per $1,000 (seller) |
| Alameda | Buyer | Buyer | Seller | Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Albany, Emeryville, Hayward, Piedmont, San Leandro (split) |
| Contra Costa | Buyer | Buyer | Seller | Richmond, El Cerrito (split) |
| San Mateo | Buyer | Buyer | Seller | San Mateo, Hillsborough (split) |
| Santa Clara | Seller | Seller | Seller | San Jose, Palo Alto, Mountain View (split) |
| Mendocino | Buyer | Buyer | Seller | None listed |
| Lake | Buyer | Buyer | Seller | None listed |
| Monterey | Split | Seller | Seller | None listed |
| Sacramento | Seller | Seller | Seller | City of Sacramento $2.75 per $1,000 (split) |
| Placer | Split | Split | Seller | None listed |
| Nevada | Split | Split | Seller | None listed |
| El Dorado | Split | Split | Seller | None listed |
| Yolo | Buyer in Davis, seller elsewhere | Buyer in Davis, seller elsewhere | Seller | Woodland $1.10 per $1,000 (seller) |
| Santa Cruz | Split | Split | Seller | City of Santa Cruz graduated tax on sales of $1.8 million and up, from July 1, 2026 (split) |
City rates change, and several East Bay and South Bay cities use tiers that rise with price. For the current tiers, see our pages on Alameda County city transfer taxes, Santa Clara County city transfer taxes and the San Francisco transfer tax.
What each closing cost is
Escrow fee
Escrow is the neutral holder that collects the deposit and loan funds, follows both parties’ written instructions, pays off the seller’s loans and records the deed. Fees vary by company and by price, so ask for a written quote. Our California escrow timeline walks through what escrow does each week.
Owner’s title insurance policy
The owner’s policy protects the buyer against covered title defects that existed before closing, such as an unreleased lien or a forged deed in the chain of title. A lender’s policy, which protects the lender, is a separate charge that belongs to the buyer’s loan costs. Our title insurance guide explains the coverage levels and the preliminary report.
County documentary transfer tax
California law lets a county charge $0.55 for each $500 of value, or fraction of $500, when real property is sold for more than $100 (Revenue and Taxation Code section 11911). That works out to $1.10 per $1,000. The county tax is figured on the price less any loan the buyer assumes; Napa County’s example is a $100,000 sale with an assumed $90,000 loan, which is taxed on $10,000, or $11.00.
City transfer taxes
Some cities add their own tax on top of the county’s. Sonoma County’s recorder lists Santa Rosa and Petaluma at $2.00 per $1,000, with no reduction for assumed loans, and Marin’s Assessor-Recorder lists San Rafael at $2.00 per $1,000 of full value. Many other North Bay cities, including Napa, Novato, Sonoma, Healdsburg and Windsor, charge only the county rate. Cotati is one to watch on rate sheets: both title guides list a $1.90 per $1,000 city tax there, but Sonoma County’s recorder lists Cotati at the county rate only, and Cotati Municipal Code section 3.08.020 imposes $0.55 per $1,000, the city share the recorder collects within the county’s $1.10. A Cotati sale pays the county rate. Our California transfer tax guide covers exemptions and how the tax is declared on the deed.
Recording and filing fees
The county charges to record the deed and the new loan. Marin, for example, charges a $10 Survey Monument Preservation Fee on transfer documents and a $20 fee if the Preliminary Change of Ownership Report is not filed with the deed.
Prorations and loan payoffs
Property taxes and any HOA dues are prorated to the closing date, so each side pays its share. The seller’s loans are paid off from the proceeds. Buyers should also budget for the supplemental property tax bill that follows a purchase, explained in our guide to the California supplemental tax bill.
Costs the contract assigns item by item
Inspections, the natural hazard disclosure report, a home warranty, HOA document and transfer fees, and point-of-sale items such as sewer lateral or smoke detector requirements are all allocated in the purchase agreement. There is no county “custom” that overrides what the parties sign.
Transfer tax on a $1,000,000 sale: five examples
Here is what the transfer tax alone comes to on a $1,000,000 sale with no assumed loan, using the rates in the 2026 guides and county recorder pages. Other closing costs come on top.
| Where | County tax | City tax | Total | Who customarily pays |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Napa | $1,100 | None | $1,100 | Seller |
| Santa Rosa or Petaluma | $1,100 | $2,000 | $3,100 | Seller |
| San Rafael (current rate) | $1,100 | $2,000 | $3,100 | Seller |
| San Rafael if Measure W passes | $1,100 | $10,000 | $11,100 | Negotiable; see below |
| San Francisco | Included | $7,500 ($7.50 per $1,000 tier) | $7,500 | Seller |
| Oakland | $1,100 | $15,000 ($15.00 per $1,000 tier) | $16,100 | Seller pays county tax; city tax customarily split |
The spread is wide. On the same price, a seller in Napa pays about a fifteenth of what the parties pay together in Oakland, which is why an estimate built on a statewide average can be thousands of dollars off.
Diamond’s North Bay markets: Sonoma, Napa and Marin
In Sonoma, Napa and Marin, the guides show the buyer customarily paying the escrow fee and the owner’s title policy, and the seller paying the county and any city transfer tax. Napa County’s recorder states it plainly: in Northern California the seller customarily pays the transfer tax during escrow.
That matches the starting point we use when writing North Bay offers, but it is negotiable and local custom varies. A seller with several offers may ask the buyer to cover some costs; a buyer in a slow market may ask the seller to pay the buyer’s escrow and title fees or give a credit. Our guide to seller concessions explains how credits work with a lender.
San Rafael is the one to watch this fall. Measure W on the November 3, 2026 ballot would raise the city rate from 0.2% to 1%, or $2 to $10 per $1,000, and would take effect ten days after the City Council certifies the results if a simple majority approves it. If you are pricing or negotiating a San Rafael sale around that date, write the transfer tax term with the new rate in mind.
Custom vs contract: how the split is actually decided
The standard California purchase agreement has a section that allocates costs, where the parties check who pays escrow, title, transfer taxes, inspections and other items. Whatever the boxes say controls, even if it departs from local custom.
Who picks the escrow and title company is negotiable too, often tied to who pays. Federal law limits one tactic: a seller may not require, as a condition of the sale, that a buyer using a federally related mortgage loan buy title insurance from a particular title company, and a seller who does is liable for three times the title charges (12 U.S.C. 2608).
Diamond may refer you to partners we work with; you’re free to choose any provider. Get an estimated settlement statement from the escrow officer early so both sides see the same numbers.
How to estimate your own closing costs
- Find the county and city for the exact parcel. A mailing address can name a city the property is not in, and that decides whether a city transfer tax applies.
- Look up the custom for that county in the table, then read what your contract or draft offer actually says.
- Compute the transfer tax at the county rate of $1.10 per $1,000, plus any city rate, on the expected price.
- Ask a title or escrow company for a fee quote on that price for escrow and the owner’s and lender’s policies.
- Add the items allocated in the contract: inspections, reports, HOA fees, a home warranty and any point-of-sale work.
- Sellers: subtract loan payoffs, commissions and prorations from the price to estimate net proceeds. Buyers: add loan fees, prepaid interest, insurance and impound deposits from your lender’s Loan Estimate; our financing guide explains those.
Commercial, probate and other non-standard sales
Both 2026 guides note that commercial closings often split the escrow fee equally, with the seller paying the standard coverage portion of the owner’s title premium. Expect to negotiate the rest deal by deal.
Court-supervised probate sales and bank-owned sales often come with their own forms and terms, which can shift costs away from local custom. Read the addenda as closely as the main contract; our probate sale guide covers the court side.
Questions people ask
Who pays closing costs in California, the buyer or the seller?
Both pay some. In most Northern California counties the buyer customarily pays escrow and the owner’s title policy and the seller pays the transfer tax, but Santa Clara and Sacramento put escrow and title on the seller, and several counties split them. The contract decides.
Who pays escrow fees in Sonoma, Napa and Marin counties?
The buyer, by custom, according to the 2026 Chicago Title and Ticor guides. It is negotiable and is set in the purchase agreement.
Who pays the transfer tax in California?
The seller customarily pays the county tax statewide in the guides, and usually any city tax in the North Bay. In several East Bay, Peninsula and South Bay cities the city tax is customarily split between buyer and seller.
Who pays escrow fees in Alameda County?
The buyer customarily pays escrow and the owner’s title policy in Alameda County. City transfer taxes in Oakland, Berkeley and other Alameda County cities are customarily split.
Who pays for title insurance in Santa Clara County?
The seller customarily pays for the owner’s title policy and the escrow fee in Santa Clara County, the reverse of most Bay Area counties.
How much is the transfer tax in Santa Rosa?
Santa Rosa charges $2.00 per $1,000 on top of Sonoma County’s $1.10 per $1,000, so $3,100 on a $1,000,000 sale. The city tax is not reduced for an assumed loan.
Can the buyer ask the seller to pay all the closing costs?
Yes. Any cost can be shifted by agreement, either by changing who pays in the contract or through a seller credit. Lenders limit how large a credit can be, so check with yours first.
Does Napa have a city transfer tax?
Neither guide lists a city transfer tax for any Napa County city, so a Napa County sale pays the county rate of $1.10 per $1,000.
Want a closing cost estimate for a specific property? We can run the transfer tax, the county custom and a draft net sheet for your address. Contact us, or start with a home valuation if you are deciding whether to sell.
This is general information, not legal or tax advice; talk to a California real estate attorney or tax adviser about your situation, and confirm fees with your escrow officer.
Sources & notes
- Chicago Title: 2026 California Customary Practices Guide (06/26)
- Ticor Title: 2026 California Customary Practices Guide (01/26)
- California Public Law: Revenue and Taxation Code section 11911
- County of Sonoma Clerk-Recorder: Documentary transfer tax
- Napa County Assessor-Recorder: Documentary transfer tax
- Marin County Assessor-Recorder: Fees (documentary transfer tax)
- Marin County Elections: Measure W (City of San Rafael), November 3, 2026
- City of Cotati Municipal Code chapter 3.08, Documentary transfer tax (eCode360)
- City of Santa Rosa Code section 3-20.020: Real property transfer tax rate (eCode360)
- Cornell LII: 12 U.S.C. 2608, prohibition against requiring purchase of title insurance from a particular company
Last reviewed October 2026 by Matthew Martinez.
