0.70%of the assessed value on your MPAC notice, each year
$3,501 a yearon a $500,000 home, or about $292 a month
Lower than 99% 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.
Markham 0.70%
Middle 1.39%4 more, up to 4.40%
0.5%1.0%1.5%2.0%2.5%3.0%
Markham
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
Markham
Markham in short
$3,501 a year on a $500,000 home: $857 to Markham council, $1,879 to York Region and $765 to schools.
Up 0.04 points since 2019, or $202 a year more on a $500,000 home.
Rent $1,940 a month, home value $1,100,000 in the 2021 Census, against an Ontario middle of $980 and $400,000.
2025 is the newest year Markham has filed, so this page uses it.
283 of Ontario’s 386 municipalities have filed 2025 so far, and Markham is compared with them.
In 2024, when all of them had filed, Markham was lower than 99% at 0.68%.
Who sets the rate
Three bodies set Markham's rate: Markham council at 0.17%, York Region at
0.38%, and the Province of Ontario for schools. The county portion is
54% of the bill, set by a council you vote for separately.
$857$1,879$765
Portion
Rate
On $500,000
Share
MunicipalMarkham council
0.17%
$857
24%
County or regionYork Region
0.38%
$1,879
54%
EducationProvince of Ontario
0.15%
$765
22%
Total
0.70%
$3,501
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 0.04 percentage points, from 0.66% to 0.70%. On a $500,000 home that is $202 a year more than in 2019.
20190.66%$3,299
20200.63%$3,141
20210.63%$3,165
20220.65%$3,225
20230.66%$3,314
20240.68%$3,402
2025*0.70%$3,501
Total residential rate, with the tax on a $500,000 home underneath. *2025 is Markham'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 $87,178M to
$94,406M, and the residential levy collected went from $531M
to $661M. 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
0.16%
0.34%
0.16%
0.66%
—
$3,299
2020
0.15%
0.32%
0.15%
0.63%
−0.03 pts
$3,141
2021
0.15%
0.33%
0.15%
0.63%
+0.00 pts
$3,165
2022
0.16%
0.34%
0.15%
0.65%
+0.01 pts
$3,225
2023
0.16%
0.35%
0.15%
0.66%
+0.02 pts
$3,314
2024
0.17%
0.36%
0.15%
0.68%
+0.02 pts
$3,402
2025*
0.17%
0.38%
0.15%
0.70%
+0.02 pts
$3,501
Why are Markham property taxes so low?
Markham's total rate of 0.70% is 0.69 percentage points below the provincial middle (1.39%), which is not the same as a small bill. A large assessment base — $94.41B 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 $862,680 per household, 213% more than the middle ($275,612). Higher values let it raise the same money per household at a lower rate.
Spending
It spends $4,680 per household, 13% more than the middle ($4,124). It spends more on water and wastewater (+$704), parks and recreation (+$193) and fire (+$156), and less on roads and bridges (−$465) and garbage and recycling (−$55).
← Less than the middleMore than the middle →
Water and wastewater+$704
Parks and recreation+$193
Fire+$156
Roads and bridges−$465
Garbage and recycling−$55
More on why
Who gets the money
Of that rate, 0.36% goes to York Region and 0.15% to schools; 0.17% is set by Markham 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 Markham
Cost
Markham
Ontario middle
Rent, per monthmedian, 2021
$1,940Higher than 99% of 329
$980
Home valueowners’ estimate, 2021
$1,100,000Higher than 99% of 384
$400,000
Property tax on a $500,000 assessment2025
$3,501Lower than 99% of 283
$6,964
Households spending 30% or more on housingshare of income, 2021
32.8%Higher than 100% of 373
14.9%
Household incomemedian, before tax, 2020
$104,000Higher than 82% 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 Markham
The 5 places closest to Markham 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 Markham's county or district that have filed 2025. Rates compare most cleanly between places whose assessments sit at similar levels.
Residential is one of 12 classes Markham 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
1.6432
0.28%
0.62%
0.88%
1.78%
Large Industrial
1.6432
0.28%
0.62%
0.88%
1.78%
Commercial
1.3321
0.23%
0.50%
0.88%
1.61%
Office Building
1.3321
0.23%
0.50%
0.88%
1.61%
Parking Lot
1.3321
0.23%
0.50%
0.88%
1.61%
Shopping Centre
1.3321
0.23%
0.50%
0.88%
1.61%
Pipeline
0.919
0.16%
0.35%
0.88%
1.38%
Multi-Residential
1
0.17%
0.38%
0.15%
0.70%
New Multi-Residential
1
0.17%
0.38%
0.15%
0.70%
Residential
1
0.17%
0.38%
0.15%
0.70%
Farmland
0.25
0.04%
0.09%
0.04%
0.18%
Managed Forest
0.25
0.04%
0.09%
0.04%
0.18%
Sources and method
Tax rates and spending come from the Financial Information Return that Markham 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 Markham's 2025 total
residential rate with all 283 Ontario municipalities: 278 of the other 282 charge more. The five colours split them into fifths.
Municipality ID
MunID 19036, MAH 27102
Limits
These are the figures Markham 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.