1.16%of the assessed value on your MPAC notice, each year
$5,809 a yearon a $500,000 home, or about $484 a month
Lower than 74% of the 414 Ontario municipalities
Each dot is one municipality, placed by its newest filed rate. Further right is higher.
Niagara-on-the-Lake 1.16%
Middle 1.40%10 more, up to 6.85%
0.5%1.0%1.5%2.0%2.5%3.0%
Niagara-on-the-Lake
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
Niagara-on-the-Lake
Niagara-on-the-Lake in short
$5,809 a year on a $500,000 home: $1,402 to Niagara-on-the-Lake council, $3,642 to Niagara Region and $765 to schools.
Up 0.23 points since 2019, or $1,136 a year more on a $500,000 home.
Rent $1,430 a month, home value $900,000 in the 2021 Census, against an Ontario middle of $980 and $400,000.
2025 is the newest year Niagara-on-the-Lake 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 Niagara-on-the-Lake's rate: Niagara-on-the-Lake council at 0.28%, Niagara Region at
0.73%, and the Province of Ontario for schools. The county portion is
63% of the bill, set by a council you vote for separately.
$1,402$3,642$765
Portion
Rate
On $500,000
Share
MunicipalNiagara-on-the-Lake council
0.28%
$1,402
24%
County or regionNiagara Region
0.73%
$3,642
63%
EducationProvince of Ontario
0.15%
$765
13%
Total
1.16%
$5,809
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 2019. Since 2019 the total rate here has risen by 0.23 percentage points, from 0.93% to 1.16%. On a $500,000 home that is $1,136 a year more than in 2019.
20190.93%$4,673
20200.95%$4,733
20210.96%$4,802
20220.98%$4,913
20231.02%$5,104
20241.08%$5,396
2025*1.16%$5,809
Total residential rate, with the tax on a $500,000 home underneath. *2025 is Niagara-on-the-Lake'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 $4,116M to
$4,505M, and the residential levy collected went from $37M
to $52M. 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
0.21%
0.57%
0.16%
0.93%
—
$4,673
2020
0.22%
0.58%
0.15%
0.95%
+0.01 pts
$4,733
2021
0.22%
0.59%
0.15%
0.96%
+0.01 pts
$4,802
2022
0.23%
0.60%
0.15%
0.98%
+0.02 pts
$4,913
2023
0.24%
0.62%
0.15%
1.02%
+0.04 pts
$5,104
2024
0.26%
0.67%
0.15%
1.08%
+0.06 pts
$5,396
2025*
0.28%
0.73%
0.15%
1.16%
+0.08 pts
$5,809
Why are Niagara-on-the-Lake property taxes so low?
Niagara-on-the-Lake's total rate of 1.16% is 0.24 percentage points below the provincial middle (1.40%), which is not the same as a small bill. The taxable value is large next to what the budget must cover — $4.50B of residential value funds $52.3M in levy here — so a lower percentage raises enough, and the dollar amount on an expensive house can still be high.
Home values
Homes here are assessed at $534,306 per household, 95% more than the middle ($274,250). Higher values let it raise the same money per household at a lower rate.
Spending
It spends $5,798 per household, 34% more than the middle ($4,313). It spends more on water and wastewater (+$909), running the municipality (+$408) and planning and development (+$156), and less on snow and ice (−$64).
← Less than the middleMore than the middle →
Water and wastewater+$909
Running the municipality+$408
Planning and development+$156
Snow and ice−$64
More on why
Who gets the money
Of that rate, 0.73% goes to Niagara Region and 0.15% to schools; 0.28% is set by Niagara-on-the-Lake 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 Niagara-on-the-Lake
Cost
Niagara-on-the-Lake
Ontario middle
Rent, per monthmedian, 2021
$1,430Higher than 93% of 354
$980
Home valueowners’ estimate, 2021
$900,000Higher than 94% of 412
$400,000
Property tax on a $500,000 assessment2025
$5,809Lower than 74% of 414
$6,992
Households spending 30% or more on housingshare of income, 2021
19.6%Higher than 76% of 400
15.0%
Household incomemedian, before tax, 2020
$98,000Higher than 75% 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 Niagara-on-the-Lake
The 5 places closest to Niagara-on-the-Lake 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 Niagara-on-the-Lake 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
2.63
0.74%
1.92%
0.88%
3.53%
Aggregate Extraction Property
2.140048
0.60%
1.56%
0.51%
2.67%
Commercial
1.7349
0.49%
1.26%
0.88%
2.63%
Office Building
1.7349
0.49%
1.26%
0.88%
2.63%
Parking Lot
1.7349
0.49%
1.26%
0.88%
2.63%
Shopping Centre
1.7349
0.49%
1.26%
0.88%
2.63%
Pipeline
1.7021
0.48%
1.24%
0.88%
2.60%
Multi-Residential
1.97
0.55%
1.44%
0.15%
2.14%
New Multi-Residential
1
0.28%
0.73%
0.15%
1.16%
Residential
1
0.28%
0.73%
0.15%
1.16%
Farmland
0.25
0.07%
0.18%
0.04%
0.29%
Managed Forest
0.25
0.07%
0.18%
0.04%
0.29%
Sources and method
Tax rates and spending come from the Financial Information Return that Niagara-on-the-Lake 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 Niagara-on-the-Lake's 2025 total
residential rate with all 414 Ontario municipalities: 305 of the other 413 charge more. The five colours split them into fifths.
Municipality ID
MunID 26047, MAH 18404
Limits
These are the figures Niagara-on-the-Lake 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.