1.65%of the assessed value on your MPAC notice, each year
$8,243 a yearon a $500,000 home, or about $687 a month
Higher than 73% of the 414 Ontario municipalities
Each dot is one municipality, placed by its newest filed rate. Further right is higher.
Essex 1.65%
Middle 1.40%10 more, up to 6.85%
0.5%1.0%1.5%2.0%2.5%3.0%
Essex
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
Essex
Essex in short
$8,243 a year on a $500,000 home: $4,678 to Essex council, $2,800 to Essex County and $765 to schools.
Up 0.20 points since 2019, or $977 a year more on a $500,000 home.
Rent $960 a month, home value $400,000 in the 2021 Census, against an Ontario middle of $980 and $400,000.
2025 is the newest year Essex has filed. Every municipality on this site is compared at its
newest filed rate: 283 have filed 2025, and the other 131 are at their newest year, mostly 2024.
Who sets the rate
Three bodies set Essex's rate: Essex council at 0.94%, Essex County at
0.56%, and the Province of Ontario for schools. The county portion is
34% of the bill, set by a council you vote for separately.
$4,678$2,800$765
Portion
Rate
On $500,000
Share
MunicipalEssex council
0.94%
$4,678
57%
County or regionEssex County
0.56%
$2,800
34%
EducationProvince of Ontario
0.15%
$765
9%
Total
1.65%
$8,243
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 risen by 0.20 percentage points, from 1.45% to 1.65%. On a $500,000 home that is $977 a year more than in 2019.
20191.45%$7,266
20201.45%$7,247
20211.45%$7,259
20221.47%$7,372
20231.52%$7,580
20241.58%$7,904
2025*1.65%$8,243
Total residential rate, with the tax on a $500,000 home underneath. *2025 is Essex'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 $624M to
$682M, and the residential levy collected went from $9M
to $11M. 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
0.81%
0.48%
0.16%
1.45%
—
$7,266
2020
0.81%
0.49%
0.15%
1.45%
−0.00 pts
$7,247
2021
0.81%
0.49%
0.15%
1.45%
+0.00 pts
$7,259
2022
0.82%
0.50%
0.15%
1.47%
+0.02 pts
$7,372
2023
0.85%
0.52%
0.15%
1.52%
+0.04 pts
$7,580
2024
0.89%
0.54%
0.15%
1.58%
+0.06 pts
$7,904
2025*
0.94%
0.56%
0.15%
1.65%
+0.07 pts
$8,243
Why are Essex property taxes so high?
Essex's total rate of 1.65% is 0.25 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: $681.8M of taxable residential value funds $11.2M in levy here.
Home values
Homes here are assessed at $81,259 per household, 70% less than the middle ($274,250). Lower values mean it needs a higher rate to raise the same money.
Spending
It spends $5,227 per household, 21% more than the middle ($4,313). It spends more on parks and recreation (+$565), running the municipality (+$245) and planning and development (+$166), and less on libraries (−$81) and fire (−$69).
← Less than the middleMore than the middle →
Parks and recreation+$565
Running the municipality+$245
Planning and development+$166
Libraries−$81
Fire−$69
More on why
Who gets the money
Of that rate, 0.56% goes to Essex County and 0.15% to schools; 0.94% is set by Essex 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 Essex
Cost
Essex
Ontario middle
Rent, per monthmedian, 2021
$960Lower than 52% of 354
$980
Home valueowners’ estimate, 2021
$400,000The same as the middle
$400,000
Property tax on a $500,000 assessment2025
$8,243Higher than 73% of 414
$6,992
Households spending 30% or more on housingshare of income, 2021
12.1%Lower than 75% of 400
15.0%
Household incomemedian, before tax, 2020
$87,000Higher than 58% 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 Essex
The 5 places closest to Essex 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 11 classes Essex 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
Large Industrial
2.6861
2.69%
1.50%
0.88%
5.07%
Industrial
1.9425
1.94%
1.09%
0.88%
3.91%
Pipeline
1.303
1.22%
0.73%
0.88%
2.83%
Commercial
1.082044
1.08%
0.61%
0.88%
2.57%
Shopping Centre
1.082044
1.08%
0.61%
0.88%
2.57%
Multi-Residential
1.1
1.10%
0.62%
0.15%
1.87%
New Multi-Residential
1.1
1.10%
0.62%
0.15%
1.87%
Residential
1
0.94%
0.56%
0.15%
1.65%
Parking Lot
0.5825
0.58%
0.33%
0.63%
1.54%
Farmland
0.25
0.23%
0.14%
0.04%
0.41%
Managed Forest
0.25
0.23%
0.14%
0.04%
0.41%
Sources and method
Tax rates and spending come from the Financial Information Return that Essex 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 Essex's 2025 total
residential rate with all 414 Ontario municipalities: 110 of the other 413 charge more. The five colours split them into fifths.
Municipality ID
MunID 37020, MAH 45410
Limits
These are the figures Essex 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.