Free · An estimate, not a tax bill
Property Tax Calculator
Your annual and monthly bill for a specific Canadian municipality, what the same home would cost in thirty-five others, and why comparing mill rates between provinces tells you nothing.
Your property
- Monthly
- $314
- Mill rate
- 0.715%
- Effective rate
- 0.443%
- Assessed value
- $527,000
The rate is not the thing to compare
Toronto, ON charges 0.715%, but on an assessment worth 62% of what the home is actually worth. That is an effective 0.443% of market value. A city assessing at full value would need a rate that low to charge you the same.
Mill rates are percentages of different quantities in different provinces, so they cannot be ranked against each other. 25 of the 36 cities here move at least three places between a ranking by published rate and a ranking by what you would actually pay.
Assessments in ON are frozen at an older valuation year, so this estimate applies a ratio of 62% to the $850,000 you entered, giving an assessed value of $527,000. Your real assessment will differ, sometimes by a lot. It is worth getting the actual figure from the assessment authority rather than relying on this one.
This same home would be taxed $3,570 a year in Markham, ON and $12,839 in Windsor, ON — both in ON, both on $850,000 of value, 3.6 times apart and $9,269 a year different. Two listings at the same price in different municipalities are not the same purchase, and property tax is almost never in the comparison.
A lender counts every dollar of this in your ratios, so the municipality you shop in changes what you can borrow. A broker can run the affordability both ways before you narrow the search.
Talk to a brokerWhere Toronto, ON really ranks
1 place apart. The published rate and the bill you would actually pay put this city in different positions, because the rate is charged on an assessment worth 62% of market value.
The same $850,000 home, city by city
From $2,363 in Vancouver, BC to $12,839 in Windsor, ON — the same house, 5.4 times apart. Two listings at one price in different municipalities are not the same purchase.
Showing the cheapest and dearest, plus your own — 23 more cities sit between them. All 36 are in the emailed report. Every figure is the same $850,000 home, run through each city’s own assessment ratio and its own mill rate. The right-hand column is the effective rate on market value — the only one comparable between provinces.
Your bill
- Annual property tax
- $3,769
- MonthlyCounted in full by a lender, unlike a condo fee which is counted at half
- $314
- Total mill rateMunicipal, education and any special levies combined
- 0.7151%
- Assessed value usedEstimated at 62% of the $850,000 you entered
- $527,000
- Effective rate on market valueRatio times rate. This is the only figure that compares honestly between provinces
- 0.443%
Where this city sits
- Rank of 36 on what you payCheapest is Vancouver, BC at $2,363; dearest is Windsor, ON at $12,839
- 7th
- Rank on mill rate aloneClose to the rank above in this case
- 8th
- Rank within ON
- 4th of 21
- Cheapest in ONMarkham, ON — $199 a year less than here
- $3,570
Projected at 3.00% a year
- Year 1
- $3,882
- Year 2
- $3,998
- Year 3
- $4,118
- Year 4
- $4,242
- Year 5
- $4,369
- Total over 5 years
- $20,609
- Of which is the increasesAgainst holding today's $3,769 flat for the whole period
- $1,765
What this feeds into
A lender counts all $314 a month of this in your ratios, at full weight — unlike a condo fee, which is counted at half. It reduces what you can borrow as surely as a higher rate would.
A planning estimate from published mill rates, not a tax bill. Every municipality sets its rate annually in its own budget, usually in the first quarter, and assessment ratios move with each reassessment cycle. Confirm the current rate with your municipality and your actual assessment with the provincial assessment authority before relying on any figure here. Comparisons run one market value through each city’s own assessment ratio and its own rate; applying one city’s assessed value to another’s rate — the usual shortcut — understates any city that assesses closer to market, by as much as a third. Assessment ratios are documented planning figures, not your own assessment, and an estimated assessed value is labelled as one wherever it appears. Residential rates only: multi-residential and commercial classes are set on separate schedules and are not modelled. Not covered here are special assessments on a particular property, phased-in increases after a reassessment, and the rebate or deferral programmes some municipalities offer to seniors and low-income owners. The projection compounds an assumption you choose and is a budgeting cushion, not a forecast.
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What this calculator does
It turns a value into an annual and monthly property tax bill for a specific Canadian municipality, using that city’s total residential mill rate. That figure matters beyond the bill itself: a lender counts the whole of it in your qualifying ratios, so it feeds directly into what you can borrow.
It then does the comparison properly. Thirty-six municipalities across nine provinces, all taxed on the same home at the same market value, each through its own assessment ratio and its own rate. That last part sounds like a technicality and is the difference between a useful comparison and a misleading one.
And it leads with the effective rate — what the bill is as a share of what the home is actually worth. It is the only rate that means the same thing in Toronto as in Vancouver, and almost nobody publishes it.
- Annual and monthly tax for your municipality, on your own figures
- The same home priced across thirty-six cities on a common market value
- The effective rate on market value, which is comparable between provinces
- Where your city ranks on what you pay, against where it ranks on its rate
- A projection forward, separating the increases from the base bill
Assessed value is not market value
Property tax is levied on your assessment, not on what you paid or what the home would sell for. Those are answers to different questions, and treating them as interchangeable is the most common property tax mistake in Canada.
The gap is largest in Ontario, where assessments are pinned to a valuation year that has been frozen for a long stretch. An Ontario assessment commonly sits between 60% and 85% of current market value depending on the municipality. Everywhere else in this table, assessments are refreshed regularly and track close to market.
That is why this page asks for one value and then asks what it is. When you give a market value it applies the city’s documented ratio and says plainly that the assessment is an estimate. When you give a real assessment it uses it directly. What it will not do is quietly use one where you meant the other.
- Tax is charged on the assessment, never on the purchase price
- Ontario assessments are frozen at an older valuation year, so they lag market
- Elsewhere in this table, assessments track close to current value
- An estimated assessment is labelled as one, everywhere it appears
- Get your real figure from the provincial assessment authority when you can
Why comparing mill rates tells you nothing
Toronto’s residential rate is about 0.715%. Vancouver’s is about 0.278%. Read side by side that looks like Vancouver taxes at well under half of Toronto. But those are percentages of different quantities: Toronto’s applies to an assessment worth roughly 62% of market, Vancouver’s to one worth essentially all of it.
Multiply each rate by its own ratio and you get the effective rate on market value — 0.443% for Toronto against 0.278% for Vancouver. Still cheaper in Vancouver, but by a materially smaller margin than the published rates suggest, and now measured in the same units.
This is not a small correction affecting a handful of cities. Of the thirty-six municipalities here, twenty-five move at least three places between a ranking by published rate and a ranking by what you would actually pay. Calgary is fifth cheapest on its mill rate and thirteenth on the bill. Any comparison built on published rates alone gets most of the country wrong.
- A mill rate is a percentage of the assessment base, and bases differ by province
- Effective rate = assessment ratio × mill rate, on market value
- Toronto 0.443% against Vancouver 0.278% — comparable; the raw rates are not
- 25 of 36 cities shift at least three ranks between the two measures
- Calgary: 5th cheapest on rate, 13th on the actual bill
The comparison most calculators get wrong
The usual way a city comparison is built is to take your assessed value and multiply it by every other city’s rate. It looks reasonable and it is wrong, because your assessed value already carries your city’s ratio baked into it. Applying it to a city that assesses on a different basis compares nothing at all.
The error runs one way. A Toronto user on an $850,000 home gets an assessed basis of $527,000. Push that through Windsor’s rate and Windsor looks like $9,365 a year — but Windsor assesses at 85% of market, so the real figure on the same home is $12,839. Understated by 27%. Vancouver comes out 38% low by the same route. Every city that assesses closer to market than yours is made to look cheaper than it is.
This page runs every comparison from one market value through each city’s own ratio and its own rate, which is the only way the answer means anything.
- Your assessed value already carries your own city’s ratio
- Applying it to another city’s rate compares two different things
- Windsor comes out 27% low that way; Vancouver 38% low
- The error always flatters the other city, never your own
- Every figure here runs from one market value through each city’s own ratio
The spread is larger than people expect
On an $850,000 home, the annual bill across these thirty-six municipalities ranges from about $2,363 in Vancouver to about $12,839 in Windsor. That is more than five times, on the same house, for a difference in postal code.
Staying inside one province does not narrow it as much as you would think. Within Ontario alone the same home runs from roughly $3,570 in Markham to $12,839 in Windsor — 3.6 times apart, a difference of about $9,269 every single year, on an identical property at an identical value.
Two listings at the same asking price in different municipalities are not the same purchase. Over a mortgage term that gap is a serious number, and it is almost never in anyone’s comparison alongside the price and the condo fee. It should be.
- On $850,000: about $2,363 in Vancouver, about $12,839 in Windsor
- Within Ontario alone the spread is 3.6 times, roughly $9,269 a year
- That is on an identical home at an identical value
- It compounds across every year you own the place
- Put it beside the asking price when comparing across municipal lines
How lenders treat it
Property tax is counted in full in both your Gross Debt Service and Total Debt Service ratios — the whole annual amount, divided by twelve, sitting alongside your mortgage payment and heating. There is no partial inclusion the way there is for a condo fee, which most lenders count at half.
That makes an inaccurate property tax figure unusually damaging in an affordability calculation. Understate it and you will qualify for a number you cannot actually get; overstate it and you will rule out homes you could have bought. Because it is counted at 100%, the error passes straight through to the answer.
It is also why the municipality you are shopping in changes what you can borrow, not merely what you pay. A higher-tax city reduces your maximum mortgage as surely as a higher interest rate does.
- Counted at 100% in GDS and TDS, unlike a condo fee at 50%
- An error here passes straight through to your maximum mortgage
- A higher-tax municipality reduces what you can borrow, not just what you pay
- Use a real assessment in an affordability calculation wherever you have one
- The monthly figure on this page is the one a lender will use
Using your results well
If you are shopping across municipal boundaries, take the comparison seriously and put the annual figure next to the asking price. It is the only ownership cost that varies this much for reasons that have nothing to do with the house.
If you have a specific property, get the real assessment rather than relying on the ratio estimate here. The assessment authority publishes it and it costs nothing to look up. The estimate on this page is honest about being an estimate, but yours is the number your bill will actually use.
And treat the projection as a budgeting cushion. Councils set rates annually and nobody knows next year’s. What the projection is genuinely useful for is showing how much of a long ownership period is increases rather than the base bill — a figure that surprises most people over a full amortization.
- Put the annual tax beside the asking price when comparing municipalities
- Look up your real assessment rather than relying on the ratio estimate
- Use the monthly figure in any affordability calculation, at 100%
- Treat the projection as a cushion, not a forecast
- Ask your municipality about senior and low-income deferral programmes
Common questions
How is property tax calculated in Canada?
Annual tax equals your assessed value multiplied by your municipality’s total mill rate, which combines a municipal levy, a provincial education levy and sometimes special levies. Councils set the rate annually in their own budget, usually in the first quarter. The important detail is that the tax is charged on your assessment, not on what you paid for the home.
Why is my Ontario assessed value so much lower than what I paid?
Ontario assessments are pinned to a valuation year that has been frozen for an extended period, while prices have moved since. An Ontario assessment commonly sits between 60% and 85% of current market value depending on the municipality. That is normal and expected, and it differs from most other provinces, where assessments are refreshed regularly and track close to market.
Can I compare property tax rates between cities?
Not the published rates, no — and this is where most comparisons go wrong. A mill rate is a percentage of the assessment base, and the base is not the same thing in Ontario as in British Columbia. What compares honestly is the effective rate on market value, which is the assessment ratio multiplied by the mill rate. Of the thirty-six cities here, twenty-five shift at least three ranks between the two measures.
How much does property tax vary between municipalities?
Far more than most buyers expect. On an $850,000 home the annual bill across the cities here runs from about $2,363 in Vancouver to about $12,839 in Windsor — more than five times. Even within Ontario alone the same home ranges from roughly $3,570 in Markham to $12,839 in Windsor, a difference of about $9,269 every year on an identical property.
Does property tax affect how much mortgage I can get?
Yes, and at full weight. Lenders include 100% of your annual property tax, divided by twelve, in both your Gross Debt Service and Total Debt Service ratios — there is no partial inclusion the way there is for a condo fee. A higher-tax municipality reduces your maximum mortgage in the same way a higher interest rate would.
How often does property tax go up?
Municipalities set rates annually as part of their budget, most often in the first quarter, and increases commonly land somewhere between 2% and 5% depending on local budget pressure. Your bill can also move without any rate change, because a reassessment can shift your assessed value. There is no national rule — your municipality’s recent budget history is the best guide.
What does this calculator not cover?
Special assessments tied to a specific property, phased-in increases following a reassessment, and non-residential tax classes, which are set on separate schedules by each municipality. It also does not model the rebate and deferral programmes many municipalities offer to seniors and low-income owners, which are worth asking about directly if they might apply to you.
Next step
The city you buy in changes what you can borrow.
A lender counts every dollar of your property tax in your qualifying ratios, at full weight, so two otherwise identical homes in different municipalities do not support the same mortgage. If you are choosing between areas, it is worth knowing that before you narrow the search rather than after. Mortgage Directory lists licensed brokers across Canada — placement is never sold, and an enquiry goes to one broker only.