Camarillo is a well-regarded Ventura County city known for its mild climate, master-planned neighborhoods, and a mix of established and newer homes.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Median home price | $930,000 (site data) |
| Median days on market | ~24 days |
| List-to-sale ratio | 100.1% |
| Year-over-year change | -5.1% |
| Median price per sq ft | $500 |
| Population | ~70,000 (2020 Census) |
| County | Ventura |
| ZIP codes | 93010, 93011, 93012 |
| School district | Pleasant Valley School District (K-8) and Oxnard Union High School District (9-12) |
| Tax authority | Ventura County Assessor |
Where it sits and overview
Camarillo is part of the Ventura County in Ventura County. Camarillo sits along the 101 in central Ventura County between the Conejo Valley and Oxnard, with the Camarillo Grade rising to the east toward Thousand Oaks.
As part of the City of Camarillo, Camarillo taxes and records are administered through the Ventura County Assessor and the Ventura County tax collector.
Home types and price context
Camarillo offers established single-family neighborhoods, master-planned and gated communities, hillside homes in areas like Spanish Hills, and condos, with some newer tracts carrying Mello-Roos.
Neighborhood character
Camarillo is a settled Ventura County city known for its mild climate, parks, and master-planned neighborhoods. It spans established central neighborhoods, newer master-planned tracts (some with Mello-Roos), and upscale hillside areas such as Spanish Hills.
Schools
Camarillo is served by Pleasant Valley School District (K-8) and Oxnard Union High School District (9-12). School attendance is assigned by the home's exact address, not by community name, and boundaries can change — always verify the assigned schools for a specific Camarillo address with the district before relying on them.
Fire hazard and insurance
Because Camarillo sits near open space and wildland, portions of the area can fall within or adjacent to a CAL FIRE Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone. Confirm any specific parcel on the CAL FIRE hazard map and obtain a firm insurance quote during your contingency period; in higher-hazard areas, owners sometimes rely on the California FAIR Plan plus a wrap-around policy.
Mello-Roos and HOA
Some newer Camarillo tracts carry Mello-Roos (CFD) special taxes on top of the base rate, while established neighborhoods generally do not. Because amounts vary by tract, always confirm the exact special tax and any HOA dues for the specific parcel before writing an offer.
Commute and access
Camarillo is connected primarily by U.S. Route 101 (the Ventura Freeway). Drive times swing widely with the time of day, so the honest answer to “how long is the commute” is to test your specific route at the hour you would actually be driving it.
Buyer and seller considerations
For buyers
Before writing an offer in Camarillo, request the preliminary title report and the property-tax bill so you can see any Mello-Roos special tax and HOA dues separately from the base 1% ad valorem rate. Two similar-looking homes can carry very different monthly costs.
- Get pre-approved with payment scenarios that include any special tax, HOA, and realistic insurance — not just principal, interest, base tax, and a placeholder insurance figure.
- Confirm the school attendance area for the exact address.
- Where relevant, confirm wildfire-hazard-zone status and shop insurance early, before removing contingencies.
For sellers
Pricing in Camarillo rewards accurate, current comparables and clean disclosure. Buyers are payment-sensitive at today's rates, so presenting transparent carrying costs up front reduces fall-out risk. See our seller guide and buyer guide.
A closer look at Camarillo
The community ranges from established central Camarillo to newer master-planned areas like the Village at the Park and Springville (some carrying Mello-Roos) and the upscale, gated, golf-oriented Spanish Hills on the eastern hillsides. The Camarillo Premium Outlets and a growing employment base add to its appeal; hillside and wildland-adjacent parcels carry fire-hazard considerations.
Schools serving Camarillo in depth
Camarillo is served by Pleasant Valley School District (K-8) and Oxnard Union High School District (9-12). The most important point for buyers is that attendance is governed by address-based boundaries, not by community or street name — two homes a short distance apart can feed different schools, and districts periodically adjust boundaries as enrollment shifts. If a specific school is a deciding factor, confirm the exact attendance area for any address directly with the district before you write an offer, since the published map is the only authoritative source. Our overview links and the California School Dashboard are good starting points.
Getting around: commute and access from Camarillo
Camarillo's position shapes how residents reach the freeways and job centers. Most commuters funnel toward the nearest freeway via local arterials, then head toward their destination; drive times vary widely by time of day. Whatever your destination, verify your own route and timing before committing — a weekday-morning test drive is worth more than any general estimate.
Understanding property tax and special assessments in Camarillo
California's base property-tax rate is roughly 1% of assessed value under Proposition 13, plus local voter-approved bonds, for a typical effective rate a little above 1%. Some newer Camarillo tracts carry Mello-Roos (CFD) special taxes on top of the base rate, while established neighborhoods generally do not. Because amounts vary by tract, always confirm the exact special tax and any HOA dues for the specific parcel before writing an offer. The tax authority of record is the Ventura County Assessor; confirm any special assessment or HOA by reading the actual property-tax bill and preliminary title report for the specific parcel, since amounts are parcel-specific and can include scheduled escalations.
What buyers should know before making an offer in Camarillo
Camarillo rewards buyers who do their homework on carrying costs and hazard status before they fall in love with a floor plan.
- Get pre-approved with payment scenarios that include any Mello-Roos special tax and HOA dues.
- Request the preliminary title report and property-tax bill early, and read the special-tax line separately from the base 1% rate.
- Check wildfire-hazard status where relevant and shop insurance before removing contingencies, not after.
- In more rural pockets, confirm whether the home is on a private well or septic system rather than municipal service.
Our buyer guide and first-time buyer guide cover these steps in detail.
What sellers should know in Camarillo
Pricing a Camarillo home well starts with current, accurate comparables drawn from the right sub-area, since carrying-cost profiles differ across the community. Because today's buyers are payment-sensitive, the listings that move cleanly are the ones that present transparent costs up front. Clean, decluttered, well-photographed homes with proactive disclosure tend to attract stronger offers and fewer renegotiations. Our seller guide walks through prep, pricing, and timing.
Who Camarillo tends to fit
Camarillo draws buyers seeking a mild climate, settled neighborhoods, and value relative to the Conejo Valley, including those wanting newer master-planned or hillside homes. Housing stock spans condos, established single-family homes, master-planned tracts, and 55+ communities, suiting a range of household sizes and budgets.
Local lifestyle in Camarillo
Camarillo offers the Premium Outlets, Old Town Camarillo, the Camarillo Ranch, parks and trails, and a relaxed Ventura County lifestyle.
What drives Camarillo demand: a coastal-adjacent Ventura County hub
Camarillo's appeal is best understood as a function of where it sits. The city occupies a sweet spot in central Ventura County — close enough to the coast for the marine layer to deliver the famous "Camarillo sunshine" microclimate, yet far enough inland to offer more home for the money than the immediate beach cities. Four practical drivers keep demand steady, and each one shows up differently in how buyers shop.
The first is U.S. Route 101, which threads straight through the city. The 101 is the spine of the entire region: it links Camarillo north toward Ventura and Santa Barbara and south through the Conejo Valley toward the west San Fernando Valley and greater Los Angeles. For a household with one earner commuting toward Thousand Oaks, Warner Center, or the broader Conejo job corridor, Camarillo often pencils out as a relative value — you trade some commute time for a meaningfully lower price per square foot than Westlake Village or Thousand Oaks proper. As always, the honest commute answer is to test your own route at the hour you would actually drive it, because the Camarillo Grade and the 101 through the Conejo can swing widely with traffic.
The second driver is the Camarillo Premium Outlets, one of the larger designer outlet centers in Southern California, with well over 150 stores. Beyond the retail draw for residents, the outlets anchor a sales-tax base and a steady stream of regional visitors that support the surrounding hospitality and service economy — part of why Camarillo's commercial corridors along the 101 stay active.
Third is agriculture and the open Oxnard Plain. Camarillo sits at the edge of some of Ventura County's most productive farmland, and the surrounding fields, greenhouses, and packing operations are a visible part of local life. That agricultural buffer is part of why the city retains open space and view corridors rather than blending into uninterrupted sprawl; it also means some rural-edge parcels may involve wells, septic systems, or agricultural-adjacency considerations worth confirming during diligence.
Fourth is California State University Channel Islands (CSUCI), just south of the city near Camarillo. As a four-year public university, CSUCI brings faculty, staff, and student housing demand into the area, and it pairs with the substantial employment presence of Naval Base Ventura County (Point Mugu) nearby. Together, the university and the regional employment base give Camarillo a more diversified demand profile than a pure bedroom community — it draws relocating professionals, military-connected households, and university-affiliated buyers alongside the families and downsizers who have long anchored the market.
Camarillo neighborhood tiers: from estate hillsides to 55+ living
Camarillo is not one market — it is a stack of distinct sub-areas with different price points, ages of housing stock, and buyer profiles. The table below groups the best-known neighborhoods into qualitative tiers. These are relative positioning labels, not price guarantees; any individual home can sit above or below its tier depending on lot, view, condition, and whether the tract carries a Mello-Roos special tax. For a current, dated read on any one of these, pull a live MLS set for that specific area.
| Tier | Representative neighborhoods | Character |
|---|---|---|
| Estate / luxury hillside | Spanish Hills, Las Posas Estates | Camarillo's top tier: gated, golf-oriented Spanish Hills on the eastern hillsides and the larger lots and view homes of Las Posas Estates. Bigger homes, premium lots, the highest price-per-square-foot in the city. |
| Move-up master-planned | Village at the Park, Springville areas | Newer master-planned tracts with modern floor plans, parks, and amenities. Some of these newer tracts carry Mello-Roos (CFD) special taxes — verify the specific parcel's tax bill. |
| Established family | Mission Oaks, Camarillo Heights | Settled, tree-lined single-family neighborhoods popular with families. Mission Oaks is known for mature streets, parks, and a strong neighborhood feel; Camarillo Heights offers hillside lots with views. |
| Age-restricted 55+ | Leisure Village | A large guard-gated, age-restricted (55+) community of attached and detached homes with extensive amenities. Open to qualifying older households under fair-housing senior-housing rules; see the dedicated section below. |
| Central / value & condos | Central Camarillo, Old Town, condo communities | The broad middle of the market: established central neighborhoods, the walkable Old Town district, and condo/townhome stock that serves first-time buyers, downsizers, and investors. |
Leisure Village: Camarillo's 55+ community
Leisure Village is a guard-gated, age-restricted community in Camarillo open to qualifying older residents — generally requiring at least one household member 55 or older, consistent with the federal Housing for Older Persons exemption to the Fair Housing Act. The community spans several hundred acres and contains roughly 2,100 homes built largely in the 1970s and early 1980s, across a range of attached and detached single-story models, with amenities that include golf, a clubhouse, pools, and an extensive slate of clubs and activities. Buyers considering Leisure Village should confirm the current age-qualification rules, HOA dues, and any community policies directly with the association, since age-restricted communities operate under specific occupancy requirements. This is stated as a factual description of an age-restricted community, not a preference or steering toward or away from any buyer.
Schools in Camarillo: Pleasant Valley K-8 and Oxnard Union high schools
Camarillo's public-school structure is a two-district arrangement that surprises some buyers relocating from cities with a single unified district. Elementary and middle grades (kindergarten through eighth) are served by the Pleasant Valley School District (PVSD), a K-8 district headquartered in Camarillo. High school students (grades 9–12) then move into the Oxnard Union High School District (OUHSD), a large regional high-school district that serves Camarillo alongside Oxnard, Port Hueneme, and other south-county communities. In Camarillo specifically, students commonly feed toward high schools operated by Oxnard Union; the exact assigned high school depends on the home's address.
The practical takeaway for buyers is the same one that applies across California: attendance is governed by address-based boundaries, not by neighborhood name, mailing address, or marketing material. Two homes on nearby streets can feed different elementary schools, and districts adjust boundaries as enrollment shifts. If a particular school is a deciding factor, confirm the exact attendance area for the specific address directly with Pleasant Valley (for K-8) and Oxnard Union (for high school) before writing an offer. The California School Dashboard is a useful starting point for comparing schools, but the district's own boundary map is the only authoritative source for assignment.
Commute, the outlets, and CSU Channel Islands: getting around Camarillo
Camarillo's geography makes its access story straightforward but worth testing. The 101 is the dominant artery; from most of the city, residents are minutes from an on-ramp, and the freeway carries commuters north toward Ventura and Santa Barbara or south over the Conejo toward Thousand Oaks, the west San Fernando Valley, and Los Angeles. The Camarillo Metrolink station adds a rail option on the Ventura County Line for commuters headed toward downtown Los Angeles who prefer not to drive the full distance.
Day to day, the same access that serves commuters serves errands: the Camarillo Premium Outlets and the city's main retail corridors cluster near the 101, so shopping, dining, and services are convenient from most neighborhoods. To the south, CSU Channel Islands sits a short drive away near the old Camarillo State Hospital site, giving the area a university anchor and the cultural and continuing-education amenities that come with it. For any buyer weighing Camarillo against pricier Conejo Valley addresses, the calculus usually comes down to this: a modestly longer commute in exchange for more square footage, the sunshine microclimate, and proximity to both the outlets and the university. Whatever the destination, a weekday-morning test drive at your real departure time beats any general estimate.
Buyer and seller takeaways for Camarillo
Buyer takeaways
- Underwrite the full payment, not just price. Newer master-planned tracts such as parts of the Village at the Park / Springville areas can carry Mello-Roos (CFD) special taxes on top of the base ~1% rate; request the property-tax bill and preliminary title report and read the special-tax line separately.
- Match the tier to your goals. If schools and family streets drive the decision, the established-family tier (Mission Oaks, Camarillo Heights) and central neighborhoods are the heart of the market; if you want newer construction, look at the master-planned tier and price in any CFD; for estate living, Spanish Hills and Las Posas Estates lead.
- Confirm school assignment by address with Pleasant Valley (K-8) and Oxnard Union (9–12) before you write — not by neighborhood reputation.
- Shop insurance early on wildland-adjacent parcels. Hillside and open-space-adjacent homes can fall in or near a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone; get a firm quote during your contingency period.
- For 55+ buyers, Leisure Village offers a guard-gated, amenity-rich, age-restricted option — confirm current age-qualification and HOA terms with the association.
Seller takeaways
- Price to the right sub-area, not the city. A Spanish Hills estate and a central-Camarillo condo are different markets; pull comparables from the correct tier and a current, dated MLS window.
- Lead with transparent carrying costs. Buyers are payment-sensitive at today's rates; if your tract carries a Mello-Roos special tax or notable HOA dues, present them up front to reduce renegotiation and fall-out risk.
- Prepare clean disclosures and pre-list condition work. Decluttered, well-photographed, move-in-ready homes consistently draw stronger offers and shorter days on market in Camarillo.
- Time the listing to your tier's buyer. Family neighborhoods often track the school calendar; 55+ and luxury buyers move on different rhythms. Align launch timing with the buyer you are most likely to attract.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the median home price in Camarillo?
Per regional MLS data, the Camarillo median is about $930,000 as of mid-2026. A median is a single snapshot — for a specific neighborhood, price band, or street, pull a live, dated MLS set rather than relying on a citywide figure.
How many days on market do Camarillo homes take to sell?
Recent Camarillo days-on-market have run in the low-to-mid 20s, with well-priced, move-in-ready homes selling faster and over-priced or dated listings sitting longer. Treat this as directional and pull a live, dated MLS set for the exact period and price band you care about.
Is Camarillo a seller's market or a buyer's market?
Camarillo in mid-2026 reads as a balanced-to-mildly-favorable seller's market: a roughly at-asking list-to-sale ratio and moderate days on market, tempered by rate-sensitive buyers. Conditions vary by neighborhood tier and price band, so confirm with a live, dated MLS set.
Where does Camarillo market data come from?
Headline figures are drawn from regional MLS data and cross-checked against county and public sources. See our data sources page for methodology and links.
How does Camarillo's market compare to a year ago?
Versus a year ago, Camarillo's median is broadly flat to modestly softer, consistent with a market cooled by higher mortgage rates after the post-2020 run-up. Year-over-year direction shifts month to month, so verify against a current, dated MLS set.
What should Camarillo buyers and sellers do right now?
Buyers should get pre-approved with full carrying-cost scenarios (any Mello-Roos special tax, HOA, and realistic insurance), confirm school attendance by exact address, and shop insurance before removing contingencies. Sellers should price to current, sub-area comparables, present transparent carrying costs up front, and prepare clean disclosures to reduce fall-out risk.
Does Camarillo have Mello-Roos?
Some newer Camarillo master-planned tracts (for example parts of the Village at the Park / Springville areas) carry Mello-Roos (CFD) special taxes; established neighborhoods generally do not. Confirm the specific tract.
What is Spanish Hills?
Spanish Hills is an upscale, gated, golf-oriented community on Camarillo's eastern hillsides, known for larger estate homes.
What school districts serve Camarillo?
Camarillo is served by the Pleasant Valley School District (K-8) and the Oxnard Union High School District (9-12). Verify the assigned schools for a specific address.
Why is Camarillo's climate notable?
Camarillo is known for 'Camarillo sunshine' — a mild, often clearer microclimate — which is part of its appeal alongside its parks and neighborhoods.
What county is Camarillo in?
Camarillo is in Ventura County, California, part of the Ventura County.
Does the Brian Cooper team have a Ventura County office?
No. The Brian Cooper Real Estate Team serves the Ventura County from our Simi Valley headquarters; we do not maintain a local office.
Local restaurants & things to do in Camarillo
Camarillo centers much of its dining and shopping around historic Old Town and the Camarillo Premium Outlets. Below are popular local spots for orientation.
Where to eat
- Ottavio's Italian Restaurant — longtime Old Town Italian
- Twenty88 Wine Bistro — wine bistro with a dog-friendly patio in Old Town
- Twisted Oak Tavern — gastropub with custom burgers and a deep tap list
- Old Town Cafe — breakfast and lunch on the boulevard
- Kay's Coffee Shop — locally roasted coffee in Old Town
- Institution Ale Company — local craft brewery and taproom
- Cantara Cellars — local winery and tasting room
- Flat Fish Brewing Co. — neighborhood brewery
Things to do
- Camarillo Premium Outlets — large designer outlet center with 160+ stores
- Camarillo Ranch — 1892 Queen Anne Victorian home with docent tours
- CAF Southern California Wing Museum — vintage combat aircraft at Camarillo Airport
- kidSTREAM Children's Museum — hands-on children's museum
- Pleasant Valley Historical Society Museum & Gardens — local history and botanical gardens
Local spots change hands and hours — please confirm directly before visiting. These are popular local picks for orientation, not paid endorsements.