0.97%of the assessed value on your MPAC notice, each year
$4,848 a yearon a $500,000 home, or about $404 a month
Lower than 88% of the 283 Ontario municipalities that have filed 2025
Each dot is one municipality, placed by its 2025 rate. Further right is higher. The rest file 2025 later in the year.
Ajax 0.97%
Middle 1.39%4 more, up to 4.40%
0.5%1.0%1.5%2.0%2.5%3.0%
Ajax
Middle 1.39%4 more, to 4.40%
0.5%1.0%1.5%2.0%2.5%3.0%
Lowest fifth
Low
Middle fifth
High
Highest fifth
Ajax
Ajax in short
$4,848 a year on a $500,000 home: $2,189 to Ajax council, $1,894 to Durham Region and $765 to schools.
Down 0.04 points since 2019, or $181 a year less on a $500,000 home.
Rent $1,600 a month, home value $850,000 in the 2021 Census, against an Ontario middle of $980 and $400,000.
2025 is the newest year Ajax has filed, so this page uses it.
283 of Ontario’s 386 municipalities have filed 2025 so far, and Ajax is compared with them.
In 2024, when all of them had filed, Ajax was lower than 74% at 1.14%.
Who sets the rate
Three bodies set Ajax's rate: Ajax council at 0.44%, Durham Region at
0.38%, and the Province of Ontario for schools. The county portion is
39% of the bill, set by a council you vote for separately.
$2,189$1,894$765
Portion
Rate
On $500,000
Share
MunicipalAjax council
0.44%
$2,189
45%
County or regionDurham Region
0.38%
$1,894
39%
EducationProvince of Ontario
0.15%
$765
16%
Total
0.97%
$4,848
100%
Each rate is rounded to two decimals, so the parts can add up to 0.01 off the total.
How the rate has changed, 2019–2025
Up every year since 2020. Since 2019 the total rate here has fallen by 0.04 percentage points, from 1.01% to 0.97%. On a $500,000 home that is $181 a year less than in 2019.
20191.01%$5,029
20200.97%$4,871
20211.00%$4,978
20221.02%$5,099
20231.07%$5,345
20241.14%$5,684
2025*0.97%$4,848
Total residential rate, with the tax on a $500,000 home underneath. *2025 is Ajax's own filing; 104 municipalities have not filed 2025 yet.Each part of the rate, year by year
Over the same years the residential assessment base moved from $16,318M to
$18,397M, and the residential levy collected went from $164M
to $178M. A rate rising while the base also grows means the budget grew faster than
property values; a rate falling while the base grows usually means the opposite. Assessment is the figure on the
MPAC notice, still based on 2016 values province-wide.
Year
Municipal
County or region
Education
Total
Change
On $500,000
2019
0.34%
0.51%
0.16%
1.01%
—
$5,029
2020
0.33%
0.49%
0.15%
0.97%
−0.03 pts
$4,871
2021
0.34%
0.50%
0.15%
1.00%
+0.02 pts
$4,978
2022
0.35%
0.52%
0.15%
1.02%
+0.02 pts
$5,099
2023
0.38%
0.53%
0.15%
1.07%
+0.05 pts
$5,345
2024
0.41%
0.57%
0.15%
1.14%
+0.07 pts
$5,684
2025*
0.44%
0.38%
0.15%
0.97%
−0.17 pts
$4,848
Why are Ajax property taxes so low?
Ajax's total rate of 0.97% is 0.42 percentage points below the provincial middle (1.39%), which is not the same as a small bill. A large assessment base — $18.40B here — funds the same services at a lower percentage, so the dollar amount on an expensive house can still be high.
Home values
Homes here are assessed at $442,675 per household, 61% more than the middle ($275,612). Higher values let it raise the same money per household at a lower rate.
Spending
It spends $3,620 per household, 12% less than the middle ($4,124). It spends more on parks and recreation (+$556), fire (+$367) and libraries (+$133), and less on roads and bridges (−$363) and garbage and recycling (−$212).
← Less than the middleMore than the middle →
Parks and recreation+$556
Fire+$367
Libraries+$133
Roads and bridges−$363
Garbage and recycling−$212
More on why
Who gets the money
Of that rate, 0.57% goes to Durham Region and 0.15% to schools; 0.41% is set by Ajax itself.
Across Ontario
Across the 226 towns inside a county or region, the tax rate follows home values much more closely than spending: where homes are worth more, rates tend to be lower (rank correlation −0.72 for home values, 0.45 for spending). A pattern, not proof of cause.
What it costs to live in Ajax
Cost
Ajax
Ontario middle
Rent, per monthmedian, 2021
$1,600Higher than 96% of 329
$980
Home valueowners’ estimate, 2021
$850,000Higher than 92% of 384
$400,000
Property tax on a $500,000 assessment2025
$4,848Lower than 88% of 283
$6,964
Households spending 30% or more on housingshare of income, 2021
24.7%Higher than 94% of 373
14.9%
Household incomemedian, before tax, 2020
$119,000Higher than 94% of 377
$84,000
Ontario has no official cost-of-living index for single towns. Statistics Canada’s consumer price index covers only Toronto, Ottawa and Thunder Bay here, and it measures change over time, not the gap between places. These are the costs published for each municipality: what renters paid and owners estimated in the 2021 Census, not today’s asking rents or sale prices.
Places like Ajax
The 5 places closest to Ajax on total tax rate, assessment / household, spending per household, population, 5-year growth, people per household, among towns inside a county or region.
Municipalities that share Ajax's county or district that have filed 2025. Rates compare most cleanly between places whose assessments sit at similar levels.
Residential is one of 10 classes Ajax reported this year. The tax ratio is the multiple
applied to the residential rate: a ratio of 1.7 on multi-residential means an apartment building pays 1.7×
what a house pays on the same assessed value.
Class
Tax ratio
Municipal
County or region
Education
Total
Industrial
2.0235
0.89%
0.77%
0.88%
2.53%
Large Industrial
2.0235
0.89%
0.77%
0.88%
2.53%
Commercial
1.45
0.63%
0.55%
0.88%
2.06%
Office Building
1.45
0.63%
0.55%
0.88%
2.06%
Parking Lot
1.45
0.63%
0.55%
0.88%
2.06%
Shopping Centre
1.45
0.63%
0.55%
0.88%
2.06%
Pipeline
1.2294
0.54%
0.47%
0.88%
1.88%
Multi-Residential
1.8665
0.82%
0.71%
0.15%
1.68%
Residential
1
0.44%
0.38%
0.15%
0.97%
Farmland
0.2
0.09%
0.08%
0.04%
0.20%
Sources and method
Tax rates and spending come from the Financial Information Return that Ajax files with the Province of Ontario; population, rents and home values from Statistics Canada.
Every source, the method and the limits
Tax rates
Ontario Financial Information Return (FIR), 22 GPL — Municipal and School Board Taxation. Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Municipal Act s.294(1). Years 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025; retrieved 2026-10-11.
Download the file
Spending, households
Financial Information Return Schedule 40 (consolidated expenses by function) and Schedule 02 (households and population).
Population
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 17-10-0155-01, Population estimates, July 1, by census subdivision. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Rent, home value, income
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Statistics Canada Open Licence. Rent is the median monthly shelter cost of renter households (rent plus any utilities they pay).
The Ontario middle is the median across the municipalities with a published figure.
Method
Dollar figures are the rate times $500,000 of assessed value. Standing compares Ajax's 2025 total
residential rate with all 283 Ontario municipalities: 248 of the other 282 charge more. The five colours split them into fifths.
Municipality ID
MunID 18005, MAH 10401
Limits
These are the figures Ajax filed with the province. An individual bill can include area-specific charges and
local improvement levies that a municipality-wide rate does not capture. Reference, not tax advice.