California · Fresno, CA metro area

Buying a home in Clovis, California

In Clovis, the median value of owner-occupied homes is $482,700, Fresno County's effective property tax rate is 0.74%, a purchase mortgage carried a median $10,130 in total loan costs in 2025, and median gross rent is $1,792 a month.

Data as of : Census ACS 2020-2024, Census Vintage 2024, HMDA 2025, HUD FY 2027. Sources

Clovis home costs, fact by fact

About Clovis

Located in Fresno County, Clovis is a city in California, within the Fresno, CA metro area, which ranks 48th nationally. 65.4% of its homes are owner-occupied.

Reading the Clovis figures

Start with the gap to the state. Owners in Clovis put their homes at $482,700, while the California-wide figure sits at $770,700. That places the city well under the statewide middle and among the mid-priced cities Payotte covers in the state. Jurupa Valley comes in higher, with owners estimating $574,600; Menifee follows near $537,300, Santa Maria near $531,700, and Sacramento near $506,300. Rialto is a little above Clovis, with an estimate of $487,900. Beneath it come Palmdale, with an estimate of $471,000, and Chico, with $468,100; Lancaster ($446,600) and Modesto ($442,700) come before Stockton ($440,900), while San Bernardino ($422,300) is the one that makes up the lower end of this set. The city's metro area, Fresno, ranks 48th nationally with 1,189,557 residents.

Ownership is the second signal. With 65.4% of households owning, Clovis leans toward owner-occupancy, in the same range as Rialto and Palmdale (both 66.2%), and Moreno Valley (63.3%). Menifee, where owners reach 80.2%, and Jurupa Valley, with 70.1%, sit above it, while Chico drops to 43.4%, and San Bernardino to 50%. A high owner share usually means a housing stock built around homes that people keep, which is worth remembering when you hold the median rent against what a purchase would cost.

Rent is where Clovis looks gentler than several of its neighbors. Menifee's median runs to $2,110, and Moreno Valley's to $2,135, yet Clovis stays at $1,792, close to Sacramento's $1,779, and Palmdale's $1,802. Chico and San Bernardino are lower still, at $1,488 and $1,508. In the Fresno HUD area, the benchmark comes to a smaller rental at $1,685, a larger one at $2,333. Remember that HUD Fair Market Rent is a benchmark, not a market median, so the pair of rent figures is not meant to match. Use them together as a range when you test a renting budget.

The ownership side is shaped by Fresno County. Fresno County's typical annual tax bill is $2,861, which works out to a rate of 0.74% of value on homes valued at a median of $388,800. Because that county value is lower than the city's own $482,700, a Clovis buyer should not assume the county bill applies unchanged to a home near the city's median. The rate is the more useful part of the pair, and it is a county figure, not a parcel-level result.

Loan costs add the last layer. In 2025, Fresno County recorded 5,576 HMDA loans landing at a typical total of $10,130. The central band of those loans ran from $5,897 to $14,192, so a lender quote near the low or the high end is not unusual. Treat every value on this page as an owners' estimate rather than a recorded sale price.

Calculate for California

If you buy

California state transfer tax

California has no state transfer tax; counties and cities may charge one.

Price$770,700
State transfer taxnot computed
Who paysSet by the purchase contract

Default price: the California median value of owner-occupied homes, $770,700 (Census ACS 2025). Not computed: No state tax. The tax is set by county and city, so it cannot be computed from the state alone. Who pays: Neither the state statute nor the City of Los Angeles FAQ assigns the tax; the purchase contract and escrow instructions decide. Not included: county and city transfer taxes, recording fees, title insurance and lender charges. California transfer tax guide · all 50 states.

If you sell

Capital gain and the federal tax on it

Same federal rule in every state: Section 121 of the Internal Revenue Code excludes up to $250,000 of gain on a main home ($500,000 for a married couple filing jointly).

Capital gain$350,000
Section 121 exclusion$250,000 (limit $250,000)
Taxable gain$100,000
Type of gainLong-term (owned over 1 year), 15% chosen
Federal tax on the gain$15,000

Section 121 excludes $250,000; the rest is taxable.

Gain = sale price minus your adjusted basis (purchase price, buying costs and improvements); selling expenses reduce it (IRS Publication 523). Long-term rates for sales in 2026, by taxable income including the gain (IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32, section 4.03): 0% up to $49,450 single or $98,900 married filing jointly, 15% up to $545,500 single or $613,700 jointly, 20% above. Not included: California state income tax on the gain (not computed), the net investment income tax, depreciation recapture on a rental or home office, and the reduced exclusion for an early sale. Agent commissions are negotiated and never set by law. Capital gains on a home sale.

Questions about buying a home in Clovis

How much is property tax in Clovis?

Homeowners in Fresno County pay a median $2,861 a year in property tax, 0.74% of the county median home value of $388,800 (Census ACS 2020-2024). Your bill depends on your assessed value and local rates.

What are closing costs on a mortgage in Clovis?

Home-purchase mortgages in Fresno County carried median total loan costs of $10,130 in 2025; half of the 5,576 loans fell between $5,897 and $14,192 (HMDA). Total loan costs are the lender and settlement-service charges of the Closing Disclosure; transfer taxes and prepaid items come on top.

Is there a transfer tax when you buy a home in Clovis?

California has no state transfer tax. Counties may charge $0.55 per $500 of value under the Documentary Transfer Tax Act, and cities such as Los Angeles add their own, with Measure ULA adding 4% or 5.5% on very high-priced sales.

Is it cheaper to rent or buy in Clovis?

It depends on your mortgage rate, down payment and how long you stay. As a benchmark, the median value of owner-occupied homes in Clovis ($482,700) equals 22.4 years of the median gross rent ($1,792 a month), both from Census ACS 2020-2024.

What natural hazards affect home insurance in Clovis?

Across California, the main hazards for home insurance are earthquake, wildfire, flood and landslide, and the insurer of last resort is California FAIR Plan. A standard California homeowners policy does not cover earthquake damage; insurers must offer earthquake coverage (Insurance Code 10081), and the FAIR Plan sells limited fire coverage up to $3 million for residential policyholders.

Run your own numbers: rent vs buy calculator · closing costs calculator.

California rules that apply in Clovis

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Sources

California · All states · Federal guides