Cordelia, Fairfield vs Sunnyvale
Cordelia, Fairfield carries an effective property tax rate of 1.18% of assessed value and Sunnyvale carries 1.16%, both for fiscal year 2025-26. On one identical reference loan the monthly carrying costs are $9,864 and $9,837 — $27 apart, with Sunnyvale lower. To Sunnyvale / Mountain View at AM peak the fastest published commutes are 95 min by car from Cordelia, Fairfield and 10 min by Caltrain from Sunnyvale. Every figure is an objective public metric or arithmetic on one, and names its source.
Cordelia, Fairfield (Solano County) · Sunnyvale (Santa Clara County)
| Metric | Cordelia, Fairfield | Sunnyvale | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median $/sqft (SFR) | $380 | $1,400 | −$1,020 |
| Effective tax rate | 1.18% | 1.16% | +0.020% |
| Monthly cost, reference loan | $9,864 | $9,837 | +$27 |
| FiDi SF (Montgomery St BART) — Drive | 75 min | 75 min | 0 min |
| Oakland City Center (12th St BART) — BART | 70 min | 80 min | −10 min |
| Oakland City Center (12th St BART) — Drive | 60 min | 55 min | +5 min |
| Sunnyvale / Mountain View (Sunnyvale Caltrain) — Drive | 95 min | 10 min | +85 min |
Difference is Cordelia, Fairfield minus Sunnyvale. Sources are cited on each submarket page.
Put the two side by side and the gap is square footage, not tax: $380 per foot in Fairfield (Cordelia) against $1,400 in Sunnyvale. On the same $1,600,000 purchase the monthly separation is only $27, because Fairfield (Cordelia) bills 1.18% and Sunnyvale 1.16%.
The house at each price
Cordelia offers the most square footage per dollar on I-80 west of Vacaville. $1.4M in Sunnyvale is a 1,700-1,900 sq ft townhome or a 1,000-1,200 sq ft 1950s two-bedroom on 5,000 sq ft. At $380 and $1,400 per foot respectively, a fixed budget buys about 268% more floor area in Fairfield (Cordelia).
What the bill looks like
Holding the loan constant — $1,600,000, 20% down, 6.5% on a 30-year fixed, $2,400 of insurance, no HOA — Fairfield (Cordelia) totals $9,864 a month at 1.18% and Sunnyvale $9,837 at 1.16% — tax lines of $1,573 and $1,547. Newer Cordelia tracts including Gold Ridge and recent Green Valley phases carry Mello-Roos of $1,000-$3,000 a year. No Mello-Roos in Sunnyvale.
The trip each morning
To Sunnyvale / Mountain View (Sunnyvale Caltrain): 95 minutes by driving from Fairfield (Cordelia), 10 by Caltrain from Sunnyvale — a 85-minute edge to Sunnyvale, or 14.2 hours across a ten-trip week. To Oakland City Center (12th St BART): 60 minutes by driving from Fairfield (Cordelia), 55 by driving from Sunnyvale — a 5-minute edge to Sunnyvale, or 0.8 hours across a ten-trip week. The Fairfield-Vacaville Capitol Corridor station is 15 minutes from Cordelia, then 65 minutes to Emeryville. Sunnyvale Caltrain has limited express service at 50-60 minutes to 4th and King.
Hazard and insurance
The 2020 LNU Lightning Complex burned to the edge of Cordelia's developed area. Standard fire carriers write Sunnyvale without issue. Run the address through CAL FIRE's severity-zone viewer, the FEMA Flood Map Service Center and the CGS seismic hazard maps, and treat the premium quote as a contingency item.
Which search this actually is
Cordelia fits a 3,000-plus square foot requirement with a three-car garage. Sunnyvale is the answer when the campus is the anchor and San Francisco is not. Rank the requirements first; the pair rarely splits on anything except the one that is non-negotiable.
Sources. Tax figures come from Solano County Tax Rate Book FY 2025-26; City of Fairfield CFD reports; Santa Clara County Tax Rate Book FY 2025-26, composited in build/assets/metrics.json. They are county-level and not yet verified at the TRA, so the parcel's bill governs. Travel times are AM-peak door-to-door estimates from data/commute/static.csv. Price per square foot is a trailing median and is not an appraisal. Qualitative detail is the broker's own field observation.
Compare any two submarkets
| Metric | Cordelia, Fairfield | Sunnyvale |
|---|---|---|
| Median $/sqft (SFR) | $380 | $1,400 |
| Effective tax rate | 1.18% | 1.16% |
| Monthly cost, reference loan | $9,864 | $9,837 |
| Fastest to FiDi SF (Montgomery St BART) | 75 min | 75 min |
| Fastest to Oakland City Center (12th St BART) | 60 min | 55 min |
| Fastest to Sunnyvale / Mountain View (Sunnyvale Caltrain) | 95 min | 10 min |
Same reference loan on both sides; the tax line is the only variable. Commute figures are door-to-door AM-peak estimates. Sources are listed on each submarket page.
Cordelia, Fairfield detail
| Component | Rate of assessed value |
|---|---|
| Prop 13 general levy | 1.000% |
| County / city voter-approved bonds | 0.010% |
| School district measures | 0.090% |
| Mello-Roos / CFD assessment | 0.080% |
| Effective rate | 1.18% |
| Mello-Roos / CFD | Yes |
Source: Solano County Tax Rate Book FY 2025-26; City of Fairfield CFD reports (Solano County), composited in
build/assets/metrics.json.
Tax Rate Area not yet verified parcel-by-parcel — confirm the rate on the parcel’s own tax bill.
Sunnyvale detail
| Component | Rate of assessed value |
|---|---|
| Prop 13 general levy | 1.000% |
| County / city voter-approved bonds | 0.045% |
| School district measures | 0.115% |
| Effective rate | 1.16% |
| Mello-Roos / CFD | None recorded |
Source: Santa Clara County Tax Rate Book FY 2025-26 (Santa Clara County), composited in
build/assets/metrics.json.
Tax Rate Area not yet verified parcel-by-parcel — confirm the rate on the parcel’s own tax bill.
Cordelia, Fairfield vs Sunnyvale: questions and answers
- Which has the lower effective property tax rate, Cordelia, Fairfield or Sunnyvale?
- Sunnyvale, at 1.16% of assessed value against 1.18% for fiscal year 2025-26 — a gap of 0.020%. Rates are composited from county tax rate books; each parcel bill governs.
- How much do monthly carrying costs differ between Cordelia, Fairfield and Sunnyvale?
- $27 per month on the identical reference loan: Cordelia, Fairfield $9,864, Sunnyvale $9,837. Sunnyvale is lower. Principal and interest are held constant, so the difference is the tax line. Arithmetic only.
- Which has the shorter commute to Sunnyvale / Mountain View, Cordelia, Fairfield or Sunnyvale?
- Sunnyvale. Cordelia, Fairfield is 95 min by car; Sunnyvale is 10 min by Caltrain. Door-to-door, AM peak. Source: data/commute/static.csv.
- What is the price per square foot difference between Cordelia, Fairfield and Sunnyvale?
- $1,020 per square foot: Cordelia, Fairfield $380, Sunnyvale $1,400. Single-family medians, trailing twelve months. A median is not a valuation of any specific property.