Town in Central Ontario, inside Simcoe County

Penetanguishene property tax rate, 2024

1.57% of the assessed value on your MPAC notice, each year

$7,860 a year on a $500,000 home, or about $655 a month

Higher than 68% of the 414 Ontario municipalities

Each dot is one municipality, placed by its newest filed rate. Further right is higher.

Penetanguishene 1.57%
Middle 1.40%10 more, up to 6.85%
Penetanguishene
Middle 1.40%10 more, to 6.85%
  • Lowest fifth
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  • Penetanguishene

Penetanguishene in short

  • $7,860 a year on a $500,000 home: $5,598 to Penetanguishene council, $1,497 to Simcoe County and $765 to schools.
  • Up 0.13 points since 2019, or $664 a year more on a $500,000 home.
  • Rent $920 a month, home value $500,000 in the 2021 Census, against an Ontario middle of $980 and $400,000.

Penetanguishene has not filed 2025 with the province yet, so this page uses 2024, the newest year it has filed. Every municipality is compared at its newest filed rate: 283 of the 414 have filed 2025.

Who sets the rate

Three bodies set Penetanguishene's rate: Penetanguishene council at 1.12%, Simcoe County at 0.30%, and the Province of Ontario for schools. The county portion is 19% of the bill, set by a council you vote for separately.

PortionRateOn $500,000Share
MunicipalPenetanguishene council1.12%$5,59871%
County or regionSimcoe County0.30%$1,49719%
EducationProvince of Ontario0.15%$76510%
Total1.57%$7,860100%

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 2021. Since 2019 the total rate here has risen by 0.13 percentage points, from 1.44% to 1.57%. On a $500,000 home that is $664 a year more than in 2019.

  1. 20191.44%$7,197
  2. 20201.44%$7,197
  3. 20211.44%$7,197
  4. 20221.47%$7,336
  5. 20231.52%$7,592
  6. 20241.57%$7,860
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 $935M to $1,064M, and the residential levy collected went from $13M to $17M. 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.

YearMunicipalCounty or regionEducationTotalChangeOn $500,000
20191.00%0.28%0.16%1.44%—$7,197
20201.01%0.27%0.15%1.44%+0.00 pts$7,197
20211.01%0.27%0.15%1.44%−0.00 pts$7,197
20221.04%0.28%0.15%1.47%+0.03 pts$7,336
20231.08%0.29%0.15%1.52%+0.05 pts$7,592
20241.12%0.30%0.15%1.57%+0.05 pts$7,860

Why are Penetanguishene property taxes so high?

Penetanguishene's total rate of 1.57% is 0.17 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: $1.06B of taxable residential value funds $16.7M in levy here.

Home values
Homes here are assessed at $244,317 per household, 11% less than the middle ($274,250). Lower values mean it needs a higher rate to raise the same money.
Spending
It spends $5,164 per household, 20% more than the middle ($4,313). It spends more on water and wastewater (+$537), police (+$116) and libraries (+$82), and less on roads and bridges (−$395) and parks and recreation (−$53).
  • Water and wastewater+$537
  • Police+$116
  • Libraries+$82
  • Roads and bridges−$395
  • Parks and recreation−$53
More on why
Who gets the money
Of that rate, 0.30% goes to Simcoe County and 0.15% to schools; 1.12% is set by Penetanguishene 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 Penetanguishene

CostPenetanguisheneOntario middle
Rent, per monthmedian, 2021$920Lower than 62% of 354$980
Home valueowners’ estimate, 2021$500,000Higher than 60% of 412$400,000
Property tax on a $500,000 assessment2024$7,860Higher than 68% of 414$6,992
Households spending 30% or more on housingshare of income, 202121.1%Higher than 83% of 40015.0%
Household incomemedian, before tax, 2020$74,000Lower than 72% 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 Penetanguishene

The 5 places closest to Penetanguishene on total tax rate, assessment / household, spending per household, population, 5-year growth, people per household, among towns inside a county or region.

PlaceNewest rateOn $500,000
The Nation1.49%$7,430
Penetanguishene this page1.57%$7,860
Loyalist1.66%$8,320
Central Elgin2024 rate1.67%$8,367
Brockton2024 rate1.67%$8,375
Stirling-Rawdon2024 rate1.74%$8,720
Others in Simcoe County

Municipalities that share Penetanguishene's county or district. Rates compare most cleanly between places whose assessments sit at similar levels.

MunicipalityRateOn $500,000vs Penetanguishene
Bradford West Gwillimbury0.81%$4,028−$3,832
Essa0.82%$4,086−$3,775
Adjala-Tosorontio2024 rate0.84%$4,219−$3,642
Tiny2024 rate0.85%$4,235−$3,626
Severn2024 rate0.86%$4,321−$3,540
Springwater2024 rate0.89%$4,448−$3,413
Oro-Medonte2024 rate0.98%$4,915−$2,946
New Tecumseth1.08%$5,400−$2,460

All 414 Ontario municipalities in one table

More on Penetanguishene

All 8 property classes, 2024

Residential is one of 8 classes Penetanguishene 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.

ClassTax ratioMunicipalCounty or regionEducationTotal
Pipeline1.29661.45%0.39%0.88%2.72%
Commercial1.22231.37%0.37%0.88%2.61%
Shopping Centre1.22231.37%0.37%0.88%2.61%
Industrial1.19251.34%0.36%0.88%2.57%
Multi-Residential11.12%0.30%0.15%1.57%
Residential11.12%0.30%0.15%1.57%
Farmland0.250.28%0.07%0.04%0.39%
Managed Forest0.250.28%0.07%0.04%0.39%

Sources and method

Tax rates and spending come from the Financial Information Return that Penetanguishene 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 Penetanguishene's 2024 total residential rate with all 414 Ontario municipalities: 134 of the other 413 charge more. The five colours split them into fifths.
Municipality ID
MunID 43072, MAH 70406
Limits
These are the figures Penetanguishene 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.