Episode 2 · Property Types & Supply Dynamics
Cupertino Housing: House Size, Age and Property Tax
Cupertino is known as a city of single-family houses on lots of their own, most of them built after the war. This page shows what kind of houses stand here, how big and how old they are, who owns them and for how long, and how California's property tax rules shape what each one costs to hold. It shows no sale prices.
💡 Key Insights & Takeaways
- The median single-family house in Cupertino has 2,071 square feet of living area on a lot of 7,490 square feet.
- The median single-family house was built in 1964, and only 14.8% show a recorded renovation.
- Among homes with a recorded sale date, the median annual tax is $34,254 for a house last sold in 2020 to 2026 and $8,801 for one last sold before 1990, because a sale resets the assessment.
- Among homes with a recorded sale date, the median hold is 17.8 years, and 43.6% have been held for more than 20 years.
- The rebuild screen marks 14.1% of single-family parcels as strong matches on four measures, and it is not a forecast that any house will be rebuilt.
A sale resets a Cupertino house's tax assessment, and the gap shows. Among homes with a recorded sale date, houses last sold in 2020 to 2026 have a median assessed value of $2,859,359 as of 15 October 2026, 4.3 times the $666,160 of houses last sold before 1990. Assessed value is not a sale price.
At a glance
This table shows five housing measures for Cupertino single-family houses, as of 15 October 2026.
| Measure | Value | Sample and date |
|---|---|---|
| Single-family parcels | 11,963 | Of 15,983 residential parcels, 15 October 2026 |
| Median living area | 2,071 square feet | 11,961 single-family parcels, 15 October 2026 |
| Median year built | 1964 | 11,951 single-family parcels, 15 October 2026 |
| Median hold since the last recorded sale | 17.8 years | 8,590 parcels with a sale date, 15 October 2026 |
| Median annual property tax | $15,455 | 11,930 single-family parcels, 15 October 2026 |
What kind of homes does Cupertino have?
As of 15 October 2026, Cupertino has 15,983 residential parcels, and 11,963 of them, or 74.8%, are single-family houses. A parcel is one lot that the county taxes on its own, so this counts parcels and not homes. A condominium is a parcel of its own, and a multi-family parcel holds several units.
The other parcels are 3,361 condominiums and townhouses (21.0%), 571 multi-family parcels, 86 vacant lots and 2 parcels of another kind, a count too small to describe. The vacant lots have a median size of 17,533 square feet (86 parcels).
The rest of this page covers the 11,963 single-family houses. The county lists them as single-family and does not separate detached houses from attached ones, so the count may include a few attached homes.
How big are Cupertino houses and their lots?
The median single-family house in Cupertino has 2,071 square feet of living area on a lot of 7,490 square feet, as of 15 October 2026. Half of the houses are smaller than the median, and half are larger. The lot figure is a median across all 11,959 single-family parcels that report a lot size.
This table shows the size and layout of Cupertino single-family houses, as of 15 October 2026.
| Measure | Value | Parcels |
|---|---|---|
| Median living area | 2,071 square feet | 11,961 |
| Median lot size | 7,490 square feet | 11,959 |
| Houses with one story | 62.0% | 11,961 |
| Houses with two or more stories | 38.0% | 11,961 |
| Median bathrooms | 3.0 | 11,959 |
| Houses with three or more bathrooms | 59.3% | 11,959 |
| Houses with one bathroom | 5.2% | 11,959 |
| Median living area of a condominium or townhouse, for comparison | 1,249 square feet | 3,360 |
Most houses have one floor, and most have three or more bathrooms. Only a small share has a single bathroom.
Set side by side, the median living area is 0.28 of the median lot area (11,956 parcels). That ratio is a Structure Share Proxy. It shows how fully lots are built on, and it is not a split of a home's value between land and building. The county does not provide that split for Cupertino, so this page shows no land share.
How old are Cupertino houses, and how many were renovated?
The median single-family house in Cupertino was built in 1964, as of 15 October 2026 (11,951 parcels). Only 3.6% were built before 1950, and 12.1% were built in 2000 or later, so most houses are decades old.
The county counts a renovation only when a house has an effective year later than its year built. The effective year is the year the county treats the house as last updated. On that test, 14.8% of houses have a recorded renovation, and 85.2% have none. A house with no entry may still have been updated, so the lack of a record is not proof that nothing was done.
Who owns Cupertino houses, and for how long?
Owners here stay a long time. A hold is the years since a house's last recorded sale. Among the 8,590 single-family parcels with a recorded sale date, the median hold is 17.8 years as of 15 October 2026. Of those parcels, 73.9% have been held for more than 10 years, 43.6% for more than 20 years and 13.1% for more than 30 years.
Those 8,590 parcels are 71.8% of the 11,963 single-family parcels. The others carry no sale date, so these figures describe the dated parcels and not every house. The dates also show no transfers for 1993 to 1996. The latest recorded transfer is 14 August 2026, so each hold runs at most 2.0 months short.
Trusts hold 9.3% of the 11,963 single-family parcels, and corporate or LLC owners hold 1.2%. In all, 10.5% carry an entity name. A trust is a common estate-planning choice among long-time owners, so this page does not read a trust as an investor. The corporate or LLC share is the nearest figure to investor ownership, and it comes from a name match.
This page shows no owner-occupied share. The county data has no exemption field, so it cannot show who lives in a house, and a missing exemption is not a sign that a house is rented.
Why do two Cupertino neighbors pay such different property taxes?
Neighbors often pay different property taxes because they bought in different years. The median single-family house in Cupertino has an assessed value of $1,237,604 and a median annual property tax of $15,455, as of 15 October 2026 (11,960 and 11,930 parcels). The median effective tax rate is 1.25%. That rate is each house's yearly tax divided by its assessed value. Assessed value is the county's tax figure. It is not market value, worth, or what a home would sell for.
Proposition 13 explains the gap. A house's assessed value starts at a base-year value, set when it is bought or built. The value then rises by a factor of at most two percent a year until a sale or new construction resets it. That two percent is a limit on the yearly rise in assessed value. It is not a cap on every bill, because bonds and direct charges sit outside it.
This table compares Cupertino single-family houses by the era of their last recorded sale, as of 15 October 2026, among the 71.8% of parcels that carry a sale date.
| Measure | Last sold before 1990 | Last sold 2020 to 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Median assessed value | $666,160 | $2,859,359 |
| Median annual property tax | $8,801 | $34,254 |
| Parcels in the group | 721 | 1,588 |
A sale resets the base year, so two houses of the same size can carry very different assessed values. Among 8,577 parcels with a recorded sale date, the year of the last sale explains 31.4% of the spread in assessed values. Living area, lot size and age together explain 20.2%. A neighbor's tax bill therefore tells you when they bought more than what their house is like.
Per square foot, the median assessed value is $601 of living area and $163 of lot area (11,958 and 11,956 parcels). Those two figures are a Structure Share Proxy. They show how much assessed value sits on each square foot, and they are not a split of value between land and building, which the county does not provide. They are tax figures and not prices.
How many Cupertino houses meet the rebuild screen?
The rebuild screen marks 1,685 single-family parcels, or 14.1%, as strong matches (11,963 parcels, as of 15 October 2026). It scores each house on four measures: low floor area for the lot, high assessed value per lot square foot, no recorded renovation and an early year built. A strong match meets three or more of the four.
The county does not provide land and building values, so the screen rests on those four measures alone. One of them, assessed value per lot square foot, follows the year of purchase under Proposition 13. The screen is not a forecast that any house will be rebuilt, and houses with an effective year built of 2010 or later are left out.
Common questions
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