Methodology

The formula

Everywhere in Canada, the basic property tax on a home is its assessed value × the total tax rate for its property class. The total rate adds the municipal rate to the education or school rate and, where they exist, upper-tier, regional district, hospital, transit and other levies. Bills can also include fixed charges, local improvement levies and utility fees that are not based on value, and grants or credits that reduce the amount owed. Our figures cover the rates applied to assessed value for the residential class.

Rate formats

Provinces write rates differently. Ontario bylaws use a percentage of assessed value (1.0% = $10 per $1,000). B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador and the territories use mills or dollars per $1,000 (10 mills = 1%). Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island use dollars per $100 (1.00 per $100 = 1%). Each city page shows the rate exactly as the municipality publishes it and, alongside it, as a percentage of assessed value so cities in different provinces can be compared.

Components and special cases

We list every component that applies to residential property city-wide, with its own rate and source, and check that they add up to the published total. Where rates differ within a city (urban, suburban and rural areas, as in Ottawa, Hamilton or Halifax), the headline is the main urban area and the other areas are listed. Some provinces have rules that change what the rate means: Manitoba taxes residential property on 45% of its assessed value (the portioned value); Saskatchewan multiplies the mill rate by a mill-rate factor for each class; Quebec publishes school tax separately from municipal taxes and exempts the first $25,000 of value. Province pages explain these rules with official sources.

Sources

Only official sources are used: municipal tax rate bylaws, budgets and official rates pages; provincial statistics and open data such as B.C.'s Local Government Statistics (Schedules 702 and 704), Ontario's Financial Information Return (Schedule 22), Nova Scotia's municipal tax rate dataset and Quebec's municipal budget data; finance ministries and statutes; assessment authorities; and the Canada Revenue Agency. News articles, real estate sites and other calculators may help us find a source but are never the source. A copy of each source document (or the passages used) is archived, so every figure can be traced later. See the full source list.

Two-step verification

Each city's figures are first extracted from the sources, then checked in a separate second pass that re-opens every source and compares each rate digit by digit, cross-checking against the provincial datasets where they exist. Corrections are recorded in a verification report. Figures that cannot be confirmed are held back and not published. The same two-step process applies to land transfer tax brackets, vacancy taxes, programs, assessment rules and guides. Both passes are carried out with AI tools working only from the official documents; see the editorial policy. 153 municipalities currently have verified figures.

Missing and unpublished data

We never estimate a rate. If a municipality has not yet adopted its rates for the current year, its page says so and shows the latest confirmed year. Provincial datasets lag by a year or more in some provinces, so the current year comes from each city's own bylaw.

Calculators

The property tax calculators multiply the value you enter by the published residential rates. They are estimates: they leave out grants, credits, phase-ins, caps, fixed charges and utility fees, and use the full assessed value (in Manitoba, enter the portioned value for a closer estimate). Land transfer tax calculators apply the official brackets and the rebate or exemption formulas published by each province and city, with the effective date shown; they are estimates and do not determine eligibility for any rebate.

Rankings

Rankings compare total residential rates as a percentage of assessed value in each municipality's latest confirmed year. A low rate does not mean a low bill: cities with high property values often have lower rates. Only B.C. publishes an official, comparable tax on a typical home, so that ranking covers B.C. only.

Updates

Municipalities set rates at different times of year, most in spring and some with December budgets. We check each city's bylaw or budget at its expected time and mark it "awaiting" until the new rates are confirmed. Land transfer taxes, vacancy taxes and programs are rechecked after each provincial and federal budget, and provincial datasets when they are republished. Each page shows the date its figures were last verified.