1.60%of the assessed value on your MPAC notice, each year
$8,006 a yearon a $500,000 home, or about $667 a month
Higher than 70% of the 414 Ontario municipalities
Each dot is one municipality, placed by its newest filed rate. Further right is higher.
Pelham 1.60%
Middle 1.40%10 more, up to 6.85%
0.5%1.0%1.5%2.0%2.5%3.0%
Pelham
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
Pelham
Pelham in short
$8,006 a year on a $500,000 home: $3,192 to Pelham council, $4,049 to Niagara Region and $765 to schools.
Up 0.32 points since 2019, or $1,591 a year more on a $500,000 home.
Rent $1,010 a month, home value $750,000 in the 2021 Census, against an Ontario middle of $980 and $400,000.
2025 is the newest year Pelham 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 Pelham's rate: Pelham council at 0.64%, Niagara Region at
0.81%, and the Province of Ontario for schools. The county portion is
51% of the bill, set by a council you vote for separately.
$3,192$4,049$765
Portion
Rate
On $500,000
Share
MunicipalPelham council
0.64%
$3,192
40%
County or regionNiagara Region
0.81%
$4,049
51%
EducationProvince of Ontario
0.15%
$765
10%
Total
1.60%
$8,006
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 0.32 percentage points, from 1.28% to 1.60%. On a $500,000 home that is $1,591 a year more than in 2019.
20191.28%$6,415
20201.31%$6,529
20211.33%$6,630
20221.36%$6,807
20231.45%$7,250
20241.51%$7,547
2025*1.60%$8,006
Total residential rate, with the tax on a $500,000 home underneath. *2025 is Pelham'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 $2,480M to
$2,870M, and the residential levy collected went from $31M
to $46M. 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
0.51%
0.61%
0.16%
1.28%
—
$6,415
2020
0.53%
0.63%
0.15%
1.31%
+0.02 pts
$6,529
2021
0.54%
0.64%
0.15%
1.33%
+0.02 pts
$6,630
2022
0.55%
0.65%
0.15%
1.36%
+0.04 pts
$6,807
2023
0.58%
0.71%
0.15%
1.45%
+0.09 pts
$7,250
2024
0.61%
0.75%
0.15%
1.51%
+0.06 pts
$7,547
2025*
0.64%
0.81%
0.15%
1.60%
+0.09 pts
$8,006
Why are Pelham property taxes so high?
Pelham's total rate of 1.60% is 0.20 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: $2.87B of taxable residential value funds $45.9M in levy here.
Home values
Homes here are assessed at $362,784 per household, 32% more than the middle ($274,250).
Spending
It spends $4,527 per household, about the same as the middle ($4,313). It spends more on parks and recreation (+$604), water and wastewater (+$330) and libraries (+$99), and less on roads and bridges (−$129) and fire (−$80).
← Less than the middleMore than the middle →
Parks and recreation+$604
Water and wastewater+$330
Libraries+$99
Roads and bridges−$129
Fire−$80
More on why
Who gets the money
Of that rate, 0.81% goes to Niagara Region and 0.15% to schools; 0.64% is set by Pelham 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 Pelham
Cost
Pelham
Ontario middle
Rent, per monthmedian, 2021
$1,010Higher than 58% of 354
$980
Home valueowners’ estimate, 2021
$750,000Higher than 88% of 412
$400,000
Property tax on a $500,000 assessment2025
$8,006Higher than 70% of 414
$6,992
Households spending 30% or more on housingshare of income, 2021
15.0%The same as the middle
15.0%
Household incomemedian, before tax, 2020
$110,000Higher than 90% 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 Pelham
The 5 places closest to Pelham 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 10 classes Pelham 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
1.68%
2.13%
0.88%
4.69%
Aggregate Extraction Property
2.140048
1.37%
1.73%
0.51%
3.61%
Commercial
1.7349
1.11%
1.40%
0.88%
3.39%
Shopping Centre
1.7349
1.11%
1.40%
0.88%
3.39%
Pipeline
1.7021
1.09%
1.38%
0.88%
3.34%
Multi-Residential
1.97
1.26%
1.60%
0.15%
3.01%
New Multi-Residential
1
0.64%
0.81%
0.15%
1.60%
Residential
1
0.64%
0.81%
0.15%
1.60%
Farmland
0.25
0.16%
0.20%
0.04%
0.40%
Managed Forest
0.25
0.16%
0.20%
0.04%
0.40%
Sources and method
Tax rates and spending come from the Financial Information Return that Pelham 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 Pelham's 2025 total
residential rate with all 414 Ontario municipalities: 123 of the other 413 charge more. The five colours split them into fifths.
Municipality ID
MunID 26028, MAH 18405
Limits
These are the figures Pelham 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.