Bank Statement Loans in California for Self-Employed Borrowers

Why Bank Statement Loans Matter in California’s Market

California is the most expensive state in the continental U.S. to buy a home, with the statewide average for a single-family home around $798,097. Prices that high leave very little room for an underwriting method that undercounts what a borrower earns. For self-employed borrowers, qualifying can be an added challenge, because conventional loans are built around W-2 employees and penalize business owners and contractors who write off expenses on their tax returns.

Here’s why bank statement loans make sense for self-employed borrowers in California:

• California has a deep self-employed and small-business base. The state is home to roughly 4.3 million small businesses, which represent 99.8% of all businesses. Self-employed workers and contractors make up a large share of that base, especially across construction and the trades, professional and technical services, entertainment and creative production, agriculture, healthcare, real estate, and hospitality.
• Write-offs make qualifying harder than it should be. The same deductions that keep a general contractor, production company owner, or independent consultant healthy at tax time shrink the taxable income a conventional underwriter sees. IRS data puts net income at just 20-23% of business receipts. Griffin Funding counts 50% of those same deposits by default, giving the typical self-employed borrower close to 2x the buying power a tax return alone would show.
• Higher prices make qualifying income matter more. With the average California home value more than double that of the national average, self-employed buyers need to qualify for larger loans than borrowers almost anywhere else. Conventional underwriting based on deflated taxable income can leave them short by hundreds of thousands of dollars of purchasing power. Bank statement loans qualify you on real deposits, so your true cash flow determines how much home you can afford.
• Most California purchases are jumbo purchases. In most California metros, the average home is a jumbo loan, which is exactly the loan tax returns are worst at supporting. At California price points, a typical loan lands above conforming limits, where documentation requirements usually get heavier rather than lighter. Griffin Funding’s bank statement loans go up to $4.5 million (purchase price of $6M) without tax returns or pay stubs, so a jumbo purchase in a coastal metro still qualifies on deposits instead of tax returns.

Sources: Zillow home value data (July 2026); U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, 2025 State Profile; IRS Statistics of Income (Nonfarm Sole Proprietorships, 2008-2015; SOI Bulletin, Spring 2025).

How California Bank Statement Loans Work

California business owners and contractors who write off expenses often show a taxable income far below what they actually earn. This tends to leave them underqualified on paper for conventional loans, even when their cash flow tells a different story.

Bank statement loans qualify you based on cash flow shown in bank statements, rather than traditional tax-return income.

Griffin Funding reviews 12 to 24 months of bank statements and calculates income from actual deposit history. The percentage of deposits that count toward your income depends on whether you use personal or business bank statements. Personal statements count 100% of deposits; business statements typically apply a 50% expense factor, which can go as low as 10% depending on your business type.

To qualify for a bank statement loan, you’ll need:

• Credit score: 620 minimum
• Self-employment history: 2 years minimum (or 1 year if you’ve stayed in the same industry)
• Down payment: 10% with a 680+ credit score; 20% minimum with a 620-679 score
• Bank statements: 12 or 24 months of personal or business statements showing consistent deposits
• Property types: Single-family homes, multi-family homes, townhomes, condos, manufactured homes, and rural properties are all eligible
• LLC ownership: Properties can be held in an LLC

Prior bankruptcy requires a two-year waiting period before applying.

View Bank Statement Loan Requirements

Today’s Bank Statement Mortgage Loan Rates in California

As a national direct-to-consumer lender, Griffin Funding cuts out the broker markup and keeps non-qualified mortgage rates competitive. Your specific rate depends on your credit score, down payment, loan amount, and buydown points.

California Housing Markets for Self-Employed Buyers

From the Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco metros with the most economic activity to lower-cost Central Valley cities and the capital region, plus premium desert, mountain, and coastal markets, California has real options for self-employed buyers at a range of price points. Here’s where borrowers are buying across the state.

Major Metros

• Los Angeles: Los Angeles is the global hub for film and TV production, directly or indirectly employing more than 325,000 workers, and generating $117.2 billion economic impact with $38.5 billion in labor income. The busiest container port complex in the country runs alongside healthcare systems like Cedars-Sinai, with major employers including Live Nation, Sony Pictures, and Disney relying on outside vendors and contractors in addition to year-round staff. Los Angeles asks the fourth-highest,monthly business deposits on this page. Orange County’s business owners are a core part of this market, and Griffin Funding’s Irvine office works with self-employed buyers across Irvine, Newport Beach, and the rest of the county every week.
• San Diego: San Diego’s deep-water harbor and near-year-round flying weather make it one of the country’s most concentrated military and defense hubs. In fiscal year 2023, San Diego-area defense contractors received roughly $19 billion in direct contract spending across more than 1,700 businesses. The city is also the third-largest biotech hub in the country, with over 2,000 establishments providing nearly 60,000 jobs in the area. Defense and biotech both contract engineering, facilities, and specialty services from independent vendors, so contract work here is plentiful. With 70 miles of pristine coastline drawing more than 32 million visitors a year, San Diego offers a deep client base for hospitality and property services. San Diego is home to Griffin Funding’s corporate headquarters, and the city sits just below Los Angeles in monthly business deposits.
• San Francisco: San Francisco’s economy runs on technology and software, healthcare and life sciences, and financial services, with AI now the dominant force within tech. OpenAI and Anthropic are both headquartered here, OpenAI’s total raise has surpassed $120 billion in committed capital so far in 2026, and Anthropic raised $30 billion in February 2026. Companies scaling at that rate rely on outside engineers, designers, and consultants to grow, which provides steady contract work even without a full-time role. San Francisco asks the most in monthly business deposits of any market on this page.

Affordable Markets

• Bakersfield: Bakersfield has become a go-to spot for affordable business and office space across central and southern California. Healthcare, retail, education, and accommodation and food services lead local employment at more than 19,000, 15,300, 10,700, and 9,400 jobs respectively, giving a self-employed contractor or service provider distinct client bases to work across. Bakersfield asks the lowest monthly business deposits of any market on this page.
• Fresno: Fresno County was among California’s fastest-growing labor markets coming out of the pandemic, one of the first to surpass pre-pandemic job levels. Within the city, government and public education, healthcare, real estate, wholesale, manufacturing, professional services, and retail together account for more than 60% of employment, while agriculture makes up just 3%, giving contractors and business owners seven distinct client bases to draw from. The city is also putting nearly $300 million into downtown infrastructure, from a transit center to residential development, which means work ahead not just for tradespeople but for engineers, landscape architects, urban planners, and the professional services firms that support a project this size. Fresno asks more in monthly business deposits than Bakersfield, though still meaningfully less than Sacramento.
• Sacramento: UC Davis generates nearly $9.57 billion in economic impact across the Sacramento metro and supports 61,700 regional jobs. Its $1.15 billion Aggie Square innovation district is expected to add $1.92 billion in total economic output in the region, creating an additional 4,900 jobs once fully built, which means ongoing lab-support, facilities, and research-adjacent contract work. State government adds another institution layer on top of that, buying IT, facilities, and professional services on contracts that continue through slow years. Sacramento needs less than half of San Francisco’s monthly business deposits.

Lifestyle Markets

• Napa: Napa County’s wine and grape industry generates a total economic impact above $11.7 billion and accounts for roughly 56,000 jobs, representing 72% of the county’s total employment. Tourism brought 3.7 million visitors to the region in 2023, who spent a total of $2.3 billion, and supported an estimated 16,000 jobs in the community. Hospitality, facilities, and trade work run year-round here rather than seasonally. Napa sits at the middle of this page for monthly business deposits, well below the coastal metros.
• Truckee: Visitor spending in Truckee tops $240 million a year, with accommodations and restaurants alone accounting for more than $113 million of that spend. Tourism aside, Tahoe Forest Hospital serves as the main medical center in town, giving contractors and self-employed service providers steady work outside the tourism cycle entirely. Northstar and Palisades Tahoe are short drives away, and the second-home market around both resorts generates constant construction, remodeling, and property-management work for the people who live here year-round. Truckee sits fourth-lowest on this page for monthly business deposits, though wildfire insurance is a real carrying cost to price in beyond the table’s estimate.
• Santa Cruz: One in six jobs in Santa Cruz County ties back to tourism and hospitality, an industry that generates more than $1.43 billion a year across accommodations, dining, recreation, and events. UC Santa Cruz adds another 3,000 or so jobs on top of it. With Silicon Valley just over the hill, Santa Cruz also draws remote tech workers and consultants, so a self-employed business here has a deep client base across tourism, academia, and tech, without depending on any single one. third-highest monthly business deposits on this page, just under San Francisco.

Free Tools for Self-Employed Borrowers in California

Run the numbers before you commit. These free tools give you an instant read on your buying power and the California market.

• Bank Statement Loan Calculator: Quickly estimate how much home you could afford with a California bank statement loan. 
• Bank Statement Loan Refinance Calculator: See how much you could potentially save using a bank statement refinance loan in California. 
• Home Affordability Calculator: Get a better idea of how much home you may be able to afford based on your financial profile and mortgage details. 
• Housing Market Insights: Explore estimated values, transaction history, and appreciation trends for properties across the state of California. 

Apply for a Bank Statement Home Loan in California

Self-employed borrowers with non-traditional income still have options to purchase property in California. With a bank statement home loan, you can qualify for up to $4.5 million in financing, no tax returns or pay stubs required. Down payments start at 10% for qualified borrowers.

Griffin Funding has helped self-employed borrowers, small business owners, freelancers, tradespeople, and independent contractors qualify for bank statement mortgage loans across California. We lend throughout the entire state, from Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco to Palm Springs, Truckee, and Santa Barbara, and the value markets of Bakersfield, Fresno, and Sacramento. Griffin Funding is headquartered in San Diego with an office in Irvine, and holds both DFPI (CFL) and DRE licenses in California, our home state and our largest bank statement loan market.

Founded and headquartered in San Diego since 2013 | NMLS #1120111

Reach out today to learn more about how to qualify for a mortgage in California if you’re self-employed. If you’re ready to get pre-approved and lock in your rate, get started online.

• Kristi Manion, Griffin Funding California Loan Officer | NMLS# 1314037
• Adam Ruvelson, Griffin Funding California Loan Officer | NMLS# 1283827
• Joshua Miller, Griffin Funding California Loan Officer | NMLS# 1640013
• PJ Vinal, Griffin Funding California Loan Officer | NMLS# 2283532
• Guy Troxler, Griffin Funding California Loan Officer | NMLS# 1642169

Griffin Funding, Inc., NMLS #1120111. Loans made or arranged pursuant to a California Financing Law license, DFPI License No. 60DBO-44274. Real estate broker, California Department of Real Estate, License No. 01943169.