About REL case studies
REL case studies are practical projects that show what REL can do. To share a case study or join a group helping one another conduct studies with REL, contact research@rel.me.
Research and responsible-use disclaimer
Research and advocacy. This project was conducted for research purposes and advocates for responsible and fair tax policy. It examines differences in property taxation to inform public discussion.
Factual data and fair use. Collecting factual information for research can be lawful. In the United States, facts themselves are not protected by copyright; research uses of copyrighted material may qualify as fair use, assessed case by case. Research purpose alone does not make every crawl lawful. Access restrictions, website terms and other applicable laws still matter, and rules vary by jurisdiction. This is general information, not legal advice.
Responsible crawling. Crawling should not impair a source site’s availability, performance or functionality for other users. Use conservative request rates and concurrency, respect access restrictions and verification challenges, and pause or stop collection if it causes disruption or the site asks you to stop.
Policy, not personal blame. This site does not seek to target any particular homeowner. Proposition 13 is a statewide policy adopted by California voters in 1978. Individual homeowners are not to blame for the rules or the differences shown here. These are collective policy choices; examining and improving them is our shared responsibility as voters and a community. Do not use these records to harass, shame or single out a household.
What property taxes pay for. Property taxes help fund public schools and community colleges, county and city services, and special districts. These support services such as fire protection, public safety, libraries and parks. Allocations vary by location. See the California Legislative Analyst’s Office overview of local services and property-tax revenue.
Property Tax Disparities: A Santa Cruz County Study
Compare county assessed values for tax purposes with third-party property estimates. Filter by Santa Cruz city limits or the rest of the county.
… estimates · … assessments · Snapshot …
Background map unavailable. Property markers still work; use List for all records.
Points show approximate recorded locations, not parcel boundaries. Numbered circles show aggregate counts. Zoom in to browse up to 25 property markers at a time. Map tiles load from OpenStreetMap only when Map is selected. Report a base-map issue.
| Rank / Property | Third-party estimate | Assessed value for tax purposes | Value difference estimate minus assessed | Percentage difference as a share of estimate |
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Methods and sources
Sources. Estimates come from a third-party property website. County assessments come from Santa Cruz County records where available; other assessments come from the third-party source. The address inventory comes from Santa Cruz County parcel records.
Map locations. Points use recorded third-party property coordinates within a broad county-area bounding box, with recorded city parcel centers as a fallback. Parcel centers are approximate, not rooftop locations. Properties without coordinates remain in the list and are counted as unmapped; no address geocoding or location guesses are used. Each marker represents one property with an estimate, an assessed value, or both. Map colors group assessed value relative to the third-party estimate.
Geography. City-limit flags use the county parcel boundary field, or the original city GIS flag where the county match is unavailable. Mailing-city names do not establish jurisdiction. Outside Santa Cruz city includes other municipalities and unincorporated areas. County inventory coverage is broader than current estimate and assessment coverage.
Comparison. The site places the county assessed value for tax purposes beside a third-party property estimate. The two values may come from different dates. Estimates are not appraisals, and missing values are left blank.
Limitations. Address matching, duplicate units and multi-parcel properties can affect comparisons. The available records are not a random sample. Differences cannot be attributed entirely to Proposition 13.
Proposition 13. California generally limits annual assessed-value growth to no more than 2%, with reassessment commonly triggered by a change in ownership or new construction. Individual acquisition histories are not established by this dataset.