Here's where you'll pay the highest and lowest property tax in Ontario
No matter where you buy a home in Ontario, there are plenty of costs you’ll have to factor into your budget beyond the price of the home itself, including your annual property tax.
Property tax rates, however, are not set at a province-wide rate. Instead, they vary based on each municipality’s size, local housing market, and city council operating budget. Interestingly, it’s the large urban centres that tend to have lower property tax rates thanks to the higher number of taxpayers and high real estate prices. On the other hand, more rural communities often implement a higher tax rate.
How much you end up paying is also affected by the value of your home. Once a property tax rate is set by a municipality, it’s multiplied by the assessed value of each home to get the amount that the property owner owes in taxes every year. Homes’ assessed values are typically updated every four years, but the most recent assessment, which was scheduled for 2020, was put off until 2022 due to the pandemic. With property values all across Ontario skyrocketing over the past year, homeowners may be in for a noticeably higher tax once assessments resume.
A new report from Zoocasa took a look at which cities in the province have the highest and lowest property tax rates. And with taxes on a $500,000 property in the city with the highest tax rate compared to the city with the lowest tax rate differing by several thousand dollars each year, it’s definitely a factor you’ll want to keep in mind.
Cities with the lowest property tax rates in Ontario:
- Toronto: 0.611013
- Markham: 0.632908
- Richmond Hill: 0.659549
- Vaughan: 0.669976
- Milton: 0.683333
Cities with the highest property tax rates in Ontario:
- Windsor: 1.818668
- Thunder Bay: 1.59108
- Sault Ste. Marie: 1.588067
- North Bay: 1.568182
- Sudbury: 1.546783
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