San Mateo County, California Recording Fees
Recording a deed in San Mateo County costs about $17 and a mortgage about $140 (a 2-page deed (exempt from SB2 and the fraud fee because it is subject to the documentary transfer tax: $14 first page + $3 for page 2) and a 16-page deed of trust (not exempt from either fee: $14 + $75 SB2 + $6 fraud fee = $95 first page, plus $3 x 15 additional pages = $45)), per the San Mateo County Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder & Elections (ACRE)'s fee schedule, effective 2025-01-21. Per San Mateo County ACRE's published recording fee schedule: standard first page $14.00, each additional page $3.00, SB2 fee $75.00 per parcel/title (effective 1/6/2025) on instruments not exempt for being subject to documentary transfer tax, and a $6.00 real estate fraud prosecution fee (effective 1/21/2025) on the same category of security/cleanup instruments used in other California counties' schedules. A deed of trust/mortgage is not transfer-tax-exempt, so it is billed the SB2 fee and (by the same logic used statewide) the fraud fee; a plain sale deed, being subject to the documentary transfer tax, is exempt from both add-on fees.
Fee schedule
| Item | Fee |
|---|---|
| Deed, first page | $14 |
| Deed, each additional page | $3 |
| Mortgage, first page | $95 |
| Mortgage, each additional page | $3 |
| SB2 Homes & Jobs Act fee per parcel, per title, effective 1/6/2025; exempt for instruments already subject to the documentary transfer tax (i.e. a typical sale deed) but applies to a deed of trust/mortgage | $75 |
| Real Estate Fraud Prosecution fee per title, effective 1/21/2025; on security/cleanup instrument types (deeds of trust, liens, releases), not a plain sale deed | $6 |
| Survey Monument Preservation fee effective 1/6/2025, only on documents with a metes-and-bounds legal description | $10 |
County transfer tax
California's Documentary Transfer Tax is authorized by Revenue & Taxation Code 11911 at $0.55 per $500 of consideration (0.11%), collected by the county recorder; San Mateo County uses that standard rate, already captured as the 'state' entry in data/transfer/california.json. Some California charter cities layer an ADDITIONAL city-level documentary transfer tax on top of the county rate (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland, Berkeley, San Jose are already listed in data/transfer/california.json's local array). Redwood City (a charter city in San Mateo County) has a documentary transfer tax article in its municipal code, but this implements the city's share of the SAME countywide $0.55/$500 tax under a county revenue-split arrangement, not an additional buyer-facing tax; a 2023-24 City Council study of adding a genuinely separate Redwood City transfer tax was dropped in April 2024 and never enacted. No San Mateo County city has been confirmed to impose an additional transfer tax beyond the uniform countywide rate. California transfer tax →
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to record a deed in San Mateo County?
$14 for the first page and $3 for each additional page, about $17 for a typical deed, per the San Mateo County Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder & Elections (ACRE)'s fee schedule.
And the mortgage?
$95 for the first page and $3 per additional page, about $140 for a typical mortgage or deed of trust. The buyer pays this at closing.
Sources
Figures are computed from the documents above and rounded to the dollar. All sources.
San Mateo County closing costs → San Mateo County home buyer guide →
Fees as published by the recorder; e-recording and courier charges may apply. General information, not legal advice.
San Mateo County overview