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California
California starts in Los Angeles, in the hills around a reservoir on the east side. From there it is on to the Bay Area, San Diego, and the rest of a very large state.
One California cost runs through every report in the state: Proposition 13. The base property tax levy starts at 1 percent of assessed value, assessed values rise by no more than 2 percent a year, and a home is reassessed at market value when it sells. Two owners on the same street can pay very different tax bills. It is part of the real price of every California home.
Metros
Los Angeles
The first stop: the east side, its reservoir neighborhoods, hillside cottages, and old streetcar suburbs.
Bay Area
San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose: fog, hills, and some of the priciest blocks in America.
San Diego
Beach towns, canyon neighborhoods, and inland streets under almost constant sun.
Latest California Report
Silver Lake, Los Angeles
Silver Lake sells at a median of $1,559,247 (Redfin, August 2026). Buyers pay for the reservoir, the architecture, and a century of film and civil rights history, four miles from Downtown.
Photo: Junkyardsparkle, CC0, Wikimedia Commons