Unclaimed Property for Sacramento Residents: $201M Held

• The State Controller holds 247,359 unclaimed property records tied to Sacramento, worth $201,117,864 combined.
• 2,210 of those records are worth $10,000 or more; the average record is worth $813.
• Wells Fargo, MetLife and Pacific Gas & Electric are among the largest reporters of unclaimed Sacramento property.
• California sets no deadline to claim unclaimed property, except for estates that have already permanently escheated.
• A recovery firm's fee on property reported under §1530 cannot exceed 10 per cent of what is recovered, and nothing is owed unless the claim is paid.

How much unclaimed property does Sacramento have on file?

The California State Controller currently lists 247,359 unclaimed property records connected to Sacramento, with a combined value of $201,117,864. That figure includes everything from a few dollars left in a closed checking account to five- and six-figure balances from insurance policies, wages and safe deposit boxes.

Most individual records are modest: the average is $813. But scale matters here. 2,210 Sacramento records are worth $10,000 or more, which means a meaningful share of that $201 million sits in a relatively small number of large accounts, not spread evenly across the total.

Which companies reported the most unclaimed property in Sacramento?

Unclaimed property does not appear at random. A business, bank or insurer is legally required to report it to the State once contact with the owner is lost for a set period, and Sacramento’s largest reporters reflect the city’s mix of banking, insurance and utility activity.

• Wells Fargo Bank NA (Apecs 1009): 6,583 records, $4,723,000
• MetLife Inc.: 4,072 records, $3,937,507
• Pacific Gas & Electric Company: 2,751 records, $1,635,856
• Wells Fargo Bank NA: 2,526 records, $2,654,343
• Gutierrez v. Wells Fargo Bank NA Qualified Settlement: 2,409 records, $639,318
• Metropolitan Life Insurance Company: 2,123 records, $4,225,042

If you or a family member ever held an account, policy or utility service with any of these, it is worth checking whether a record was filed under that name.

What kind of unclaimed property is it?

The most common categories among Sacramento’s records are refunds, uncashed checks, wages and insurance-related payments:

• Refunds Due: 16,811 records, $7,497,102
• Misc Outstanding Checks: 13,890 records, $6,255,217
• Wages, Payroll, Salaries: 13,240 records, $3,982,599
• Premium Refunds: 13,133 records, $4,939,027
• Cashier’s Checks: 10,895 records, $7,321,961
• Accounts Payable: 10,396 records, $6,721,319

A single person can appear more than once across these categories. Someone who worked several jobs, held a life insurance policy, and switched banks in Sacramento may have three or four separate small records sitting under slightly different name spellings.

Is there a deadline to claim it?

No. California holds unclaimed property indefinitely until the owner or their heirs come forward; there is no cutoff date and no expiration on a valid claim. The one exception is an estate that has been permanently escheated to the State, meaning the State has taken title outright. That is uncommon, and it does not describe the vast majority of records sitting in Sacramento’s file today (State Controller, Unclaimed Property).

How do I find out if any of it is mine?

We index all 14,613,528 property records the State Controller publishes, alongside 37,166 probate estates on the separate Estates of Deceased Persons File, of which 4,438 remain claimable. You can search here by name to see whether a Sacramento record matches you or a relative.

If you find a match, the next step depends on whether you are claiming in your own name, as an heir, or on behalf of a business. Our guide to how to claim walks through each path, including what the Controller requires as proof of identity and ownership.

What does it cost to get help recovering it?

For property reported under Code of Civil Procedure §1530, which covers the categories above, a recovery firm’s fee cannot legally exceed 10 per cent of what is recovered (CCP §1582(a)(2)(C)). That cap does not apply to estates that reach the State through county probate; the Controller states there are no fee restrictions on investigators filing for the heirs or owners of probated estates, which is a separate category covered on our probate estates page.

Either way, no fee is collected before the Controller approves the claim and pays the owner. California Unclaimed Property Services charges a percentage of what is recovered and nothing if nothing is recovered. Full detail on how the fee law works, including what an agreement must disclose, is on our finder fee law page.

Questions People Ask

Figures on this page are from our copy of the State Controller’s published file as it stood on 1 October 2026. The State republishes the file weekly, so current totals will differ. Search is always against the latest copy.