Palm Beach County closing costs
The county-specific transfer tax and deed recording fees for Palm Beach County, Florida - the local details that change your total beyond the statewide rate.
- Effective transfer tax
- 0.7%
- ≈ $2,800 on a $400,000 home
- Typical lender + 3rd-party fees
- $9,185
- median of 14,271 purchase loans · HMDA 2023
Palm Beach County compared with Florida counties
In the verified Florida county records we have, Palm Beach County's effective transfer-tax rate ranks #1 of 18 by highest rate. At $400,000, the county-specific transfer tax is $2,800, which is the same as the state-level calculation before city surtaxes.
- County rank
- #1 of 18
- within verified Florida county pages
- Tax at $400,000
- $2,800
- state baseline $2,800
- HMDA fee sample
- 14,271
- purchase loans in 2023
Palm Beach County transfer-tax data: official source linked on this page, reviewed 2026-Q2.
Transfer tax in Palm Beach County
Florida levies the deed transfer tax (documentary stamp tax) at the state level — $0.70 per $100 statewide, except Miami-Dade. Palm Beach County imposes NO additional county transfer tax and no city in the county (West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, etc.) levies its own transfer tax. By Florida custom the seller customarily pays the deed doc stamps, while the buyer typically pays doc stamps and intangible tax on a new mortgage; this is negotiable. Note Miami-Dade is the lone Florida outlier with a different rate plus a surtax — Palm Beach uses the standard state rate.
Recording fees in Palm Beach County
Deed/document recording: $10.00 for the first page (not to exceed 8.5 x 14 in.) and $8.50 for each additional page or fraction thereof. Indexing fee of $1.00 per name for each grantor/grantee name beyond the first four (i.e., charged on the 5th name and above). Documents with legal descriptions: $0.60 for the first two legal descriptions and $0.20 for each additional legal description. Florida documentary stamp tax on deeds (state tax, paid to the Clerk at recording) is $0.70 per $100 of consideration (0.0070); doc stamps on mortgages are $0.35/$100 and intangible tax on mortgages is $0.002 per $1 financed.
Official recorder: Palm Beach County recorder ↗ — the authoritative source for the current recording fee schedule.
What lenders actually charge in Palm Beach County
Across 14,271 home-purchase mortgages originated in Palm Beach County in 2023, the median total loan costs — lender fees plus third-party services such as appraisal and title, excluding prepaids and escrow — were $9,185, of which about $4,278 was the lender’s own origination charges. That is reported loan-level data from every lender under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act — not a national average — so it reflects what buyers in this county actually paid. Lender fees vary widely, so comparing a few rate quotes is the single biggest lever on your closing total.
Source: FFIEC HMDA Data Browser ↗ (2023 purchase originations, FIPS 12099, ODC-BY 1.0). Median total loan costs exclude prepaids and escrow.
Estimate your Palm Beach County closing costs
Pre-set to Florida. County-level taxes above may add to this estimate.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the transfer tax in Palm Beach County?
Palm Beach County (Florida): the applicable real-estate transfer tax works out to about 0.7%. Florida levies the deed transfer tax (documentary stamp tax) at the state level — $0.70 per $100 statewide, except Miami-Dade. Palm Beach County imposes NO additional county transfer tax and no city in the county (West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, etc.) levies its own transfer tax. By Florida custom the seller customarily pays the deed doc stamps, while the buyer typically pays doc stamps and intangible tax on a new mortgage; this is negotiable. Note Miami-Dade is the lone Florida outlier with a different rate plus a surtax — Palm Beach uses the standard state rate.
What are recording fees in Palm Beach County?
Deed/document recording: $10.00 for the first page (not to exceed 8.5 x 14 in.) and $8.50 for each additional page or fraction thereof. Indexing fee of $1.00 per name for each grantor/grantee name beyond the first four (i.e., charged on the 5th name and above). Documents with legal descriptions: $0.60 for the first two legal descriptions and $0.20 for each additional legal description. Florida documentary stamp tax on deeds (state tax, paid to the Clerk at recording) is $0.70 per $100 of consideration (0.0070); doc stamps on mortgages are $0.35/$100 and intangible tax on mortgages is $0.002 per $1 financed.
How much are closing costs in Palm Beach County?
Closing costs in Palm Beach County follow Florida's structure plus this county's specific transfer-tax and recording fees. Use the calculator below for an estimate; for the exact recording schedule, the county recorder is the authoritative source.
What do lenders charge in fees in Palm Beach County?
In 2023, the median total loan costs — lender fees plus third-party services like appraisal and title, excluding prepaids and escrow — across 14,271 home-purchase mortgages in Palm Beach County were about $9,185, of which roughly $4,278 was the lender's own origination charges. This is reported loan-level data under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act; actual fees vary by lender, so comparing quotes matters.
Closest Florida county comparisons
Sibling links are ordered by nearby verified effective transfer-tax rate, so each county page connects to genuinely comparable counties.