Grammy-winning music producer Benny Blanco and his wife, singer Selena Gomez, closed on a $35 million Beverly Hills estate in December 2024 — and the property tax bill that comes with it tells its own story about the price of celebrity real estate. Based on Beverly Hills’ effective property tax rate, the couple’s annual bill lands north of $400,000, more than five times the median American household’s entire yearly income.
The math behind the bill
The nearly one-acre estate, previously owned by director Todd Phillips, sold after just a month on the market, according to real estate industry outlet Elite Agent. The Spanish-style property includes seven bedrooms, twelve bathrooms, a private gym, home theater, spa, library, and a glass greenhouse solarium.
Beverly Hills carries a median effective property tax rate of 1.22%, according to property tax research firm Ownwell — a figure that combines the Los Angeles County base levy with local school district and community facility district assessments. Applied to a $35 million purchase price, that rate puts Blanco and Gomez’s annual property tax bill at roughly $427,000.
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How that compares to what most Americans earn
Real median household income in the United States was $83,730 in 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That means the couple’s estimated property tax bill alone — before mortgage, insurance, or upkeep on a seven-bedroom estate — runs more than five times what a typical American household brings home in an entire year, from every job, before taxes.
The purchase adds to what real estate press has described as a growing property portfolio for the couple. Robb Report has tracked several of their transactions, and the Beverly Hills purchase followed a pattern in the market: Phillips himself bought the same property in 2012 for $17.25 million and sold it in 2021 for $31 million before it changed hands again for $35 million a few years later — a doubling in roughly a decade even before Blanco and Gomez’s purchase.
California’s property tax structure, capped under Proposition 13 at roughly 1% of assessed value plus voter-approved local additions, means the tax bill is tied directly to what a buyer pays rather than to any official appraisal that might lag behind the market. For a couple purchasing at the very top of the Beverly Hills market, that structure translates almost immediately into a tax bill most homeowners would recognize as bigger than their own mortgage payment, property tax, and income combined.
It’s a reminder of how differently the math works at the top of the market. For most households, property tax is a line item. For a $35 million estate, it’s closer to a second income most people will never see in a year, let alone owe on a single house.
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