property taxes toronto

This is where Toronto ranks vs other Ontario cities for property taxes

It's a well-known fact that buying property in Toronto is incredibly expensive at this point in time. But, just how much does someone need to pay their municipal government each year for the simple privilege of owning land at all?

That depends on how much your house cost and, perhaps more importantly, where you live.

The real estate listings and data website Zoocasa just ranked 35 municipalties across Ontario in terms of their property tax rates.

Toronto was found to have the lowest property tax rates in the province, believe it or not, at 0.615 per cent. For a home priced at $500,000, this would translate into roughly $3,074 in property taxes per year. 

Windsor, Ontario, came out as the most expensive on the list with a property tax rate of 1.789 per cent. Taxes on a $500,000 home would amount to $8,947 there — but they'd be in the minority.

The average home price in Windsor is currently sitting at $337,923, according to Zoocasa. In the same ranking, Toronto's average home price is listed as $915,481.

"Cities with high-valued local real estate and larger populations generally have more leeway on keeping their tax rate low," notes Zoocasa managing editor Penelope Graham.

"As the amount collected from individual homeowners is higher to reflect real estate prices, and there are more tax payers to contribute to the pot."

The main purpose of property tax collection is to generate revenue for cities, according to Graham, and rates are set by individual city councils.

The more people contributing to a city's tax pool, the less everybody needs to pay — though with far higher average home prices than anywhere else in Canada (save for Vancouver at times), Torontonian property owners still pay considerably more in taxes overall than their friends down south.

You can check out the full list in the infographic below, courtesy of Zoocasa.

property taxes ontario

Lead photo by

Jason Cook


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