California, Maryland.
Typical home $398,050 (+2.6% in a year), asking rent $2,507 (+1.1%). California-Lexington Park, MD metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,054 (+102%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $10,077 +3%
- $387,973$398,050 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $65,977 +20%
- $332,073$398,050 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- California$2,089
- Maryland$2,230
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 19 years.
Typical home values in California, MD rose 2.6% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Asking rents in California, MD rose 1.1% over the past year — slower than the nation's +2.7%.
Owning the typical home in California runs $287/mo more than renting one. The gap peaked at $398 in Feb 2025.
That is $2,794 a month against $2,507 rent: a $2,089 mortgage payment, plus $279 property tax and $426 insurance & upkeep.
Owning vs renting — California
The owning line is the typical home's monthly payment at that month's rate, plus property tax and insurance & upkeep; the renting line is the typical asking rent; the grey line is the mortgage payment on its own. Same homes, same months, both ways of paying for a roof.
- Owning all in$2,794
- Renting$2,507
- Mortgage only$2,089
Property tax · $279/mo 0.84% of value a year — the ACS 2020-2024 median bill over the median home value for Saint Marys County, MD
Insurance & upkeep · $426/mo insurance, maintenance and repairs together, from the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey — the national figure for mortgaged homeowners, scaled to this market's home value. BLS publishes the three bundled and they cannot be split.
Both are priced off the same month's home value, so they rise with the market. Neither is a quote — a specific home's bill depends on its assessment, its age and its insurer.
Living in California, St. Mary's County, Maryland
California, in St. Mary's County, had 12,947 people in the 2020 census. Half its households earn more than $119,855 a year and half less, against $119,446 across St. Mary's County; 7% of its people live below the poverty line. 63% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 37% are rented. Unemployment in St. Mary's County was 3.7% in August 2026, and the county had 2.4% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then government.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. California is a community in St. Mary's County, in southern Maryland. Residents are on the young side, with fewer older adults than in many towns, and household incomes run close to the county's. Most homes are lived in by their owners, and a good share of adults hold a four-year degree. Winters are cold, and summers are hot.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, followed by government, professional and business services, and shops. The town's larger workplaces include Walmart, Target and Giant, along with BAE Systems. Across St. Mary's County there were somewhat fewer jobs last year than the year before, though unemployment has eased a little over the past year. A typical commute is a fairly short drive, and a good number of people work from home.
Things to do. St. Mary's River State Park, a protected area, and the Patuxent River Naval Air Museum are both in or beside town. A short drive away are the St. Marys River, Calvert Cliffs State Park and Greenwell State Park, which are all good for time outdoors. The Calvert Marine Museum is also close by, and the Potomac River is a longer drive away.
Report a mistake
- 5,294households
- 44%of adults have a degree
- 7%below the poverty line
- 24 mintypical commute
- 18%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. St. Mary's County had 47,919 jobs in 2025, 2.4% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 45° and lows near 30°; warmest in July, with highs near 88° and lows near 73°.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Solomons weather station, 3 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in California
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters409
- TargetDiscount department stores203
- Lowe's Companies, INCHomecenter184
- BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc.Warehouse club and supercenters106
- BAE Systems Inc. - TSSMotion alarms manufacturing105
- GiantGrocery stores94
- Lexington Park MotorsAutomobile dealers, new only or new and used83
- Lexington Park Ford LincolnLight utility truck dealers, new only or new and used70
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 15 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 1,560 people in all. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- HurricanesRelatively moderate
- Strong windrelatively high in parts of CaliforniaRelatively moderate
- Winter weatherRelatively moderate
- LightningRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in California’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, very low. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on St. Mary's County and the California-Lexington Park, MD metro.
California home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- California$398,050
- Maryland$424,890
- United States$366,157
Levy by levy, and a check of one home’s own bill, the site covers Ohio’s property tax.
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 California listings, and the typical home goes pending in 15 days — the market is cooling.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- California31.13%
- United States26.90%
Days to pending
How long the typical listing takes to go under contract.
Not enough data to draw this yet.
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- California55
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- California22
Median sale price
What buyers actually paid — closed sales, not asking prices.
- California$403,389
- United States$370,717
Sale-to-list ratio
Above 100%, homes sell over asking; below, buyers negotiate wins.
- California99.79%
Zip codes with a California address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls California — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.