2.02%of the assessed value on your MPAC notice, each year
$10,114 a yearon a $500,000 home, or about $843 a month
Higher than 90% of the 414 Ontario municipalities
Each dot is one municipality, placed by its newest filed rate. Further right is higher.
Port Colborne 2.02%
Middle 1.40%10 more, up to 6.85%
0.5%1.0%1.5%2.0%2.5%3.0%
Port Colborne
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
Port Colborne
Port Colborne in short
$10,114 a year on a $500,000 home: $5,707 to Port Colborne council, $3,642 to Niagara Region and $765 to schools.
Up 0.43 points since 2019, or $2,171 a year more on a $500,000 home.
Rent $930 a month, home value $448,000 in the 2021 Census, against an Ontario middle of $980 and $400,000.
2025 is the newest year Port Colborne 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 Port Colborne's rate: Port Colborne council at 1.14%, Niagara Region at
0.73%, and the Province of Ontario for schools. The county portion is
36% of the bill, set by a council you vote for separately.
$5,707$3,642
Portion
Rate
On $500,000
Share
MunicipalPort Colborne council
1.14%
$5,707
56%
County or regionNiagara Region
0.73%
$3,642
36%
EducationProvince of Ontario
0.15%
$765
8%
Total
2.02%
$10,114
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 0.43 percentage points, from 1.59% to 2.02%. On a $500,000 home that is $2,171 a year more than in 2019.
20191.59%$7,943
20201.61%$8,042
20211.67%$8,350
20221.74%$8,685
20231.80%$9,022
20241.90%$9,492
2025*2.02%$10,114
Total residential rate, with the tax on a $500,000 home underneath. *2025 is Port Colborne'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 $1,606M to
$1,751M, and the residential levy collected went from $25M
to $35M. 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
0.86%
0.57%
0.16%
1.59%
—
$7,943
2020
0.88%
0.58%
0.15%
1.61%
+0.02 pts
$8,042
2021
0.93%
0.59%
0.15%
1.67%
+0.06 pts
$8,350
2022
0.98%
0.60%
0.15%
1.74%
+0.07 pts
$8,685
2023
1.03%
0.62%
0.15%
1.80%
+0.07 pts
$9,022
2024
1.08%
0.67%
0.15%
1.90%
+0.09 pts
$9,492
2025*
1.14%
0.73%
0.15%
2.02%
+0.12 pts
$10,114
Why are Port Colborne property taxes so high?
Port Colborne's total rate of 2.02% is 0.62 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: $1.75B of taxable residential value funds $35.4M in levy here.
Home values
Homes here are assessed at $166,966 per household, 39% less than the middle ($274,250). Lower values mean it needs a higher rate to raise the same money.
Spending
It spends $5,130 per household, 19% more than the middle ($4,313). It spends more on water and wastewater (+$598), parks and recreation (+$464) and fire (+$243), and less on running the municipality (−$231) and snow and ice (−$102).
← Less than the middleMore than the middle →
Water and wastewater+$598
Parks and recreation+$464
Fire+$243
Running the municipality−$231
Snow and ice−$102
More on why
Who gets the money
Of that rate, 0.73% goes to Niagara Region and 0.15% to schools; 1.14% is set by Port Colborne 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 Port Colborne
Cost
Port Colborne
Ontario middle
Rent, per monthmedian, 2021
$930Lower than 59% of 354
$980
Home valueowners’ estimate, 2021
$448,000Higher than 54% of 412
$400,000
Property tax on a $500,000 assessment2025
$10,114Higher than 90% of 414
$6,992
Households spending 30% or more on housingshare of income, 2021
20.4%Higher than 81% of 400
15.0%
Household incomemedian, before tax, 2020
$70,000Lower than 81% 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 Port Colborne
The 5 places closest to Port Colborne 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 Port Colborne 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
3.00%
1.92%
0.88%
5.80%
Large Industrial
2.63
3.00%
1.92%
0.88%
5.80%
Aggregate Extraction Property
2.140048
2.44%
1.56%
0.51%
4.51%
Commercial
1.7349
1.98%
1.26%
0.88%
4.12%
Parking Lot
1.7349
1.98%
1.26%
0.88%
4.12%
Shopping Centre
1.7349
1.98%
1.26%
0.88%
4.12%
Pipeline
1.7021
1.94%
1.24%
0.88%
4.06%
Multi-Residential
1.97
2.25%
1.44%
0.15%
3.84%
New Multi-Residential
1
1.14%
0.73%
0.15%
2.02%
Residential
1
1.14%
0.73%
0.15%
2.02%
Farmland
0.25
0.29%
0.18%
0.04%
0.51%
Managed Forest
0.25
0.29%
0.18%
0.04%
0.51%
Sources and method
Tax rates and spending come from the Financial Information Return that Port Colborne 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 Port Colborne's 2025 total
residential rate with all 414 Ontario municipalities: 41 of the other 413 charge more. The five colours split them into fifths.
Municipality ID
MunID 26011, MAH 18102
Limits
These are the figures Port Colborne 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.