Town in Eastern Ontario, inside Northumberland County
Cobourg property tax rate, 2023
1.59%of the assessed value on your MPAC notice, each year
$7,932 a yearon a $500,000 home, or about $661 a month
Higher than 69% of the 414 Ontario municipalities
Each dot is one municipality, placed by its newest filed rate. Further right is higher.
Cobourg 1.59%
Middle 1.40%10 more, up to 6.85%
0.5%1.0%1.5%2.0%2.5%3.0%
Cobourg
Middle 1.40%10 more, to 6.85%
0.5%1.0%1.5%2.0%2.5%3.0%
Lowest fifth
Low
Middle fifth
High
Highest fifth
Cobourg
Cobourg in short
$7,932 a year on a $500,000 home: $4,547 to Cobourg council, $2,620 to Northumberland County and $765 to schools.
Up 0.12 points since 2019, or $608 a year more on a $500,000 home.
Rent $1,220 a month, home value $600,000 in the 2021 Census, against an Ontario middle of $980 and $400,000.
Cobourg has not filed 2025 with the province yet, so this page uses 2023, the newest year it has filed.
Every municipality is compared at its newest filed rate: 283 of the 414 have filed 2025.
Who sets the rate
Three bodies set Cobourg's rate: Cobourg council at 0.91%, Northumberland County at
0.52%, and the Province of Ontario for schools. The county portion is
33% of the bill, set by a council you vote for separately.
$4,547$2,620$765
Portion
Rate
On $500,000
Share
MunicipalCobourg council
0.91%
$4,547
57%
County or regionNorthumberland County
0.52%
$2,620
33%
EducationProvince of Ontario
0.15%
$765
10%
Total
1.59%
$7,932
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, 2019–2023
Up every year since 2020. Since 2019 the total rate here has risen by 0.12 percentage points, from 1.46% to 1.59%. On a $500,000 home that is $608 a year more than in 2019.
20191.46%$7,323
20201.45%$7,243
20211.46%$7,290
20221.50%$7,478
20231.59%$7,932
Total residential rate, with the tax on a $500,000 home underneath.Each part of the rate, year by year
Over the same years the residential assessment base moved from $2,142M to
$2,283M, and the residential levy collected went from $30M
to $36M. 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
0.83%
0.47%
0.16%
1.46%
—
$7,323
2020
0.82%
0.47%
0.15%
1.45%
−0.02 pts
$7,243
2021
0.83%
0.48%
0.15%
1.46%
+0.01 pts
$7,290
2022
0.85%
0.49%
0.15%
1.50%
+0.04 pts
$7,478
2023
0.91%
0.52%
0.15%
1.59%
+0.09 pts
$7,932
Why are Cobourg property taxes so high?
Cobourg's total rate of 1.59% is 0.19 percentage points above the provincial middle (1.40%). A rate that high usually means the assessment base is small relative to what the budget must cover: $2.28B of taxable residential value funds $36.2M in levy here.
Home values
Homes here are assessed at $247,778 per household, 10% less than the middle ($274,250).
Spending
It spends $6,502 per household, 51% more than the middle ($4,313). It spends more on police (+$741), parks and recreation (+$460) and water and wastewater (+$387), and less on roads and bridges (−$415) and running the municipality (−$361).
← Less than the middleMore than the middle →
Police+$741
Parks and recreation+$460
Water and wastewater+$387
Roads and bridges−$415
Running the municipality−$361
More on why
Who gets the money
Of that rate, 0.52% goes to Northumberland County and 0.15% to schools; 0.91% is set by Cobourg itself.
Across Ontario
Across the 241 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 −0.70 for home values, 0.45 for spending). A pattern, not proof of cause.
What it costs to live in Cobourg
Cost
Cobourg
Ontario middle
Rent, per monthmedian, 2021
$1,220Higher than 84% of 354
$980
Home valueowners’ estimate, 2021
$600,000Higher than 74% of 412
$400,000
Property tax on a $500,000 assessment2023
$7,932Higher than 69% of 414
$6,992
Households spending 30% or more on housingshare of income, 2021
22.8%Higher than 89% of 400
15.0%
Household incomemedian, before tax, 2020
$77,000Lower than 65% of 405
$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 Cobourg
The 5 places closest to Cobourg on total tax rate, assessment / household, spending per household, population, 5-year growth, people per household, among towns inside a county or region.
Residential is one of 12 classes Cobourg 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
2.1
1.91%
1.10%
0.88%
3.89%
Large Industrial
2.1
1.91%
1.10%
0.88%
3.89%
Commercial
1.5
1.36%
0.79%
0.88%
3.03%
Office Building
1.5
1.36%
0.79%
0.88%
3.03%
Parking Lot
1.5
1.36%
0.79%
0.88%
3.03%
Shopping Centre
1.5
1.36%
0.79%
0.88%
3.03%
Multi-Residential
1.8
1.64%
0.94%
0.15%
2.73%
Pipeline
1.1981
1.09%
0.63%
0.88%
2.60%
New Multi-Residential
1
0.91%
0.52%
0.15%
1.59%
Residential
1
0.91%
0.52%
0.15%
1.59%
Farmland
0.25
0.23%
0.13%
0.04%
0.40%
Managed Forest
0.25
0.23%
0.13%
0.04%
0.40%
Sources and method
Tax rates and spending come from the Financial Information Return that Cobourg 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; 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 Cobourg's 2023 total
residential rate with all 414 Ontario municipalities: 129 of the other 413 charge more. The five colours split them into fifths.
Municipality ID
MunID 14021, MAH 61403
Limits
These are the figures Cobourg 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.