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2025 and 2023 filed rates · Central Ontario

Burlington vs Hamilton: property tax compared

Burlington0.91% $4,527 a year on a $500,000 home

Hamilton1.03% $5,143 a year on a $500,000 home

Hamilton is +0.12 pts higher: $616 a year more on a $500,000 home.

Where the two sit among Ontario's 414 municipalities

Each dot is one municipality, placed by its newest filed rate. Burlington is lower than 91%; Hamilton is lower than 85%.

Burlington 0.91%
Hamilton 1.03%
Middle 1.40%10 more, up to 6.85%
Burlington
Hamilton
Middle 1.40%10 more, to 6.85%
  • Lowest fifth
  • Low
  • Middle fifth
  • High
  • Highest fifth
  • Burlington
  • Hamilton

Burlington has the lower property tax rate: 0.91% against Hamilton's 1.03% (Burlington 2025, Hamilton 2023, the newest each has filed), a gap of 0.12 percentage points. On a $500,000 assessment that is $4,527 versus $5,143 a year — a difference of $616.

Side by side

Assessed valueBurlingtonHamiltonDifference
$300,000$2,716$3,086$369
$500,000$4,527$5,143$616
$750,000$6,791$7,715$924
$1,000,000$9,055$10,286$1,231

Assessed value, not market price. Ontario assessments still reference 2016 valuations, and the two places may sit at different distances from current market value — which is why a rate gap is not the same as a bill gap for comparable houses.

Where the difference comes from

The two are set up differently. Hamilton has no county above it, while Burlington is a town inside Halton Region, paying 0.32% to the county on top of its own rate. Comparing municipal rates alone would be misleading here; only the totals are comparable.

PortionBurlingtonHamiltonOn $500,000
Municipal0.44%0.88%$2,200
County or region0.32%none$-1,584
Education0.15%0.15%$0
Total0.91%1.03%$616

2019–2025: has the gap widened?

YearBurlingtonHamiltonGap
20190.74%0.92%+0.19 pts
20200.71%0.90%+0.19 pts
20210.73%0.93%+0.19 pts
20220.75%0.96%+0.21 pts
20230.80%1.03%+0.22 pts
20240.86%——
20250.91%——

Hamilton has not filed 2025 yet, so the comparison above sets its 2023 rate against Burlington’s 2025 rate.

Which is cheaper, Burlington or Hamilton?

Burlington, on rate. 0.91% against 1.03% means $616 less per year on a $500,000 assessment. Whether it is cheaper for the same house depends on how each place assesses it, which the rate alone does not tell you.

Sources and method

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
Method
Dollar figures are the rate times the assessed value shown. Gaps between two rates are in percentage points. Both figures are as filed with the province for the tax year shown.
Limits
Reference, not tax advice. An individual bill can include area-specific charges that a municipality-wide rate does not capture.