1.49%of the assessed value on your MPAC notice, each year
$7,469 a yearon a $500,000 home, or about $622 a month
Higher than 66% of the 386 Ontario municipalities
Each dot is one municipality, placed by its 2024 rate. Further right is higher.
Niagara Falls 1.49%
Middle 1.35%6 more, up to 5.30%
0.5%1.0%1.5%2.0%2.5%3.0%
Niagara Falls
Middle 1.35%6 more, to 5.30%
0.5%1.0%1.5%2.0%2.5%3.0%
Lowest fifth
Low
Middle fifth
High
Highest fifth
Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls in short
$7,469 a year on a $500,000 home: $2,859 to Niagara Falls council, $3,846 to Niagara Region and $765 to schools.
Up 0.33 points since 2019, or $1,652 a year more on a $500,000 home.
Rent $1,110 a month, home value $552,000 in the 2021 Census, against an Ontario middle of $980 and $400,000.
Niagara Falls has not filed 2025 with the province yet, so this page uses 2024. 282 of the 386 municipalities have filed 2025.
Who sets the rate
Three bodies set Niagara Falls's rate: Niagara Falls council at 0.57%, Niagara Region at
0.77%, and the Province of Ontario for schools. The county portion is
51% of the bill, set by a council you vote for separately.
$2,859$3,846$765
Portion
Rate
On $500,000
Share
MunicipalNiagara Falls council
0.57%
$2,859
38%
County or regionNiagara Region
0.77%
$3,846
51%
EducationProvince of Ontario
0.15%
$765
10%
Total
1.49%
$7,469
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, 2019–2024
Up every year since 2019. Since 2019 the total rate here has risen by 0.33 percentage points, from 1.16% to 1.49%. On a $500,000 home that is $1,652 a year more than in 2019.
20191.16%$5,817
20201.17%$5,826
20211.18%$5,917
20221.22%$6,082
20231.42%$7,122
20241.49%$7,469
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 $8,641M to
$9,453M, and the residential levy collected went from $97M
to $141M. 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
0.44%
0.57%
0.16%
1.16%
—
$5,817
2020
0.43%
0.58%
0.15%
1.17%
+0.00 pts
$5,826
2021
0.44%
0.59%
0.15%
1.18%
+0.02 pts
$5,917
2022
0.46%
0.60%
0.15%
1.22%
+0.03 pts
$6,082
2023
0.55%
0.72%
0.15%
1.42%
+0.21 pts
$7,122
2024
0.57%
0.77%
0.15%
1.49%
+0.07 pts
$7,469
Why are Niagara Falls property taxes so high?
Niagara Falls's total rate of 1.49% is 0.14 percentage points above the provincial middle (1.35%). A rate that high usually means the assessment base is small relative to what the budget must cover: $9.45B of taxable residential value funds $141.2M in levy here.
Home values
Homes here are assessed at $234,097 per household, 15% less than the middle ($275,612). Lower values mean it needs a higher rate to raise the same money.
Spending
It spends $5,138 per household, 25% more than the middle ($4,124). It spends more on water and wastewater (+$695), fire (+$582) and libraries (+$90), and less on police (−$260) and running the municipality (−$224).
← Less than the middleMore than the middle →
Water and wastewater+$695
Fire+$582
Libraries+$90
Police−$260
Running the municipality−$224
More on why
Who gets the money
Of that rate, 0.77% goes to Niagara Region and 0.15% to schools; 0.57% is set by Niagara Falls 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 Niagara Falls
Cost
Niagara Falls
Ontario middle
Rent, per monthmedian, 2021
$1,110Higher than 74% of 329
$980
Home valueowners’ estimate, 2021
$552,000Higher than 71% of 384
$400,000
Property tax on a $500,000 assessment2024
$7,469Higher than 66% of 386
$6,758
Households spending 30% or more on housingshare of income, 2021
23.3%Higher than 90% of 373
14.9%
Household incomemedian, before tax, 2020
$74,500Lower than 72% 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 Niagara Falls
The 5 places closest to Niagara Falls 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 13 classes Niagara Falls 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
Landfill
2.940261
1.68%
2.26%
0.88%
4.82%
Industrial
2.63
1.50%
2.02%
0.88%
4.41%
Large Industrial
2.63
1.50%
2.02%
0.88%
4.41%
Commercial
1.7349
0.99%
1.33%
0.88%
3.21%
Office Building
1.7349
0.99%
1.33%
0.88%
3.21%
Parking Lot
1.7349
0.99%
1.33%
0.88%
3.21%
Shopping Centre
1.7349
0.99%
1.33%
0.88%
3.21%
Pipeline
1.7021
0.97%
1.31%
0.88%
3.16%
Multi-Residential
1.97
1.13%
1.52%
0.15%
2.79%
New Multi-Residential
1
0.57%
0.77%
0.15%
1.49%
Residential
1
0.57%
0.77%
0.15%
1.49%
Farmland
0.25
0.14%
0.19%
0.04%
0.37%
Managed Forest
0.25
0.14%
0.19%
0.04%
0.37%
Sources and method
Tax rates and spending come from the Financial Information Return that Niagara Falls 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; 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 Niagara Falls's 2024 total
residential rate with all 386 Ontario municipalities: 131 of the other 385 charge more. The five colours split them into fifths.
Municipality ID
MunID 26043, MAH 18101
Limits
These are the figures Niagara Falls 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.