File Updated October 5, 2026 First documented September 4, 2026

Oregon Closing Cost Calculator

Oregon has no statewide transfer tax; Washington County charges $1 per $1,000, and its standard recording is $86 per document. Start with the property’s county. Washington County has a transfer tax and its own recording schedule; those amounts should not be applied automatically to a sale elsewhere in Oregon.

Washington County charges whole $1,000 units

The county’s transfer-tax ordinance charges $1 for each $1,000 of selling price or fraction of that amount. A taxable $500,000 sale produces $500; $500,000.01 produces $501.

The county’s transfer guidance defines selling price as consideration paid or contracted for the transfer, including amounts assumed. Enter the preparer’s confirmed taxable consideration rather than assuming the buyer’s cash payment is the complete base.

Choose the actual buyer and seller allocation

County liability attaches to both purchaser and seller, while only one transfer tax is imposed. The worksheet uses your contract’s seller percentage to allocate that single amount. It does not infer a mandatory equal split from the fact that both parties can be liable.

For a $501 total tax, a confirmed 50% seller allocation gives $250.50 to each side. A 100% seller allocation gives the seller $501 and the buyer zero. Recording remains a separate assigned cost.

Exemptions require the county’s process

The small-transfer exemption application covers selling prices of $13,999 or less. This ordinary taxable-sale model requires a full transfer quote for that situation instead of treating the exemption as automatically approved.

The county also publishes forms for specified security, gift, inheritance, foreclosure and other transfers. Follow the applicable form’s conditions. The county instructs parties to pay the tax or file for exemption within 15 days of recording; late penalties are outside this estimate.

State law preserves exceptions to the local-tax restriction

ORS 306.815 restricts local transfer taxes but includes exceptions, including a tax ordinance already operative on March 31, 1997. Recording and other authorized fees are separately addressed. Calling every Oregon transfer free of local tax would omit Washington County’s levy.

For another Oregon county, select the option only after confirming that no sale-price transfer charge applies to your transaction. The state tax component in this ordinary-resale model is zero; special transaction treatment and any provider’s quoted charge should be entered explicitly.

Washington County recording increased in August 2025

The county’s fee-change notice makes the ordinary one-page, one-title recording charge $86 from August 1, 2025. Each additional page costs $5, and each additional title costs $5. The notice explains the $5 increase in its corner-preservation component.

The old $81 first-page amount understates a current ordinary instrument by $5. A separate deed and deed of trust each start a first-page charge. Count separately indexable titles with the recorder; an informal document heading is not enough to establish the fee.

Document requirements and settlement costs remain separate

The recording office’s document guidance explains submission requirements. Nonstandard instruments, additional services and other counties need a recording quote. An entered quote replaces the whole modeled recording amount.

For a hypothetical $500,000 seller paying half of a $500 transfer tax and one $91 recording charge, those two costs total $341. With $300,000 payoff and no other entered costs, proceeds are $199,659 before title, commission, credits, prorations and other charges. Enter those actual amounts to complete the budget.

Last reviewed 2026-10-05. Worksheet methodology.

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