1.67%of the assessed value on your MPAC notice, each year
$8,333 a yearon a $500,000 home, or about $694 a month
Higher than 78% of the 283 Ontario municipalities that have filed 2025
Each dot is one municipality, placed by its 2025 rate. Further right is higher. The rest file 2025 later in the year.
Sarnia 1.67%
Middle 1.39%4 more, up to 4.40%
0.5%1.0%1.5%2.0%2.5%3.0%
Sarnia
Middle 1.39%4 more, to 4.40%
0.5%1.0%1.5%2.0%2.5%3.0%
Lowest fifth
Low
Middle fifth
High
Highest fifth
Sarnia
Sarnia in short
$8,333 a year on a $500,000 home: $4,949 to Sarnia council, $2,620 to Lambton County and $765 to schools.
Up 0.20 points since 2019, or $1,013 a year more on a $500,000 home.
Rent $990 a month, home value $400,000 in the 2021 Census, against an Ontario middle of $980 and $400,000.
2025 is the newest year Sarnia has filed, so this page uses it.
283 of Ontario’s 386 municipalities have filed 2025 so far, and Sarnia is compared with them.
In 2024, when all of them had filed, Sarnia was higher than 75% at 1.61%.
Who sets the rate
Three bodies set Sarnia's rate: Sarnia council at 0.99%, Lambton County at
0.52%, and the Province of Ontario for schools. The county portion is
31% of the bill, set by a council you vote for separately.
$4,949$2,620$765
Portion
Rate
On $500,000
Share
MunicipalSarnia council
0.99%
$4,949
59%
County or regionLambton County
0.52%
$2,620
31%
EducationProvince of Ontario
0.15%
$765
9%
Total
1.67%
$8,333
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 2020. Since 2019 the total rate here has risen by 0.20 percentage points, from 1.46% to 1.67%. On a $500,000 home that is $1,013 a year more than in 2019.
20191.46%$7,320
20201.46%$7,285
20211.48%$7,386
20221.50%$7,495
20231.53%$7,672
20241.61%$8,034
2025*1.67%$8,333
Total residential rate, with the tax on a $500,000 home underneath. *2025 is Sarnia'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 $5,958M to
$6,236M, and the residential levy collected went from $85M
to $104M. 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
0.87%
0.44%
0.16%
1.46%
—
$7,320
2020
0.87%
0.44%
0.15%
1.46%
−0.01 pts
$7,285
2021
0.88%
0.44%
0.15%
1.48%
+0.02 pts
$7,386
2022
0.89%
0.46%
0.15%
1.50%
+0.02 pts
$7,495
2023
0.91%
0.47%
0.15%
1.53%
+0.04 pts
$7,672
2024
0.95%
0.50%
0.15%
1.61%
+0.07 pts
$8,034
2025*
0.99%
0.52%
0.15%
1.67%
+0.06 pts
$8,333
Why are Sarnia property taxes so high?
Sarnia's total rate of 1.67% is 0.27 percentage points above the provincial middle (1.39%). A rate that high usually means the assessment base is small relative to what the budget must cover: $6.24B of taxable residential value funds $103.9M in levy here.
Home values
Homes here are assessed at $181,246 per household, 34% less than the middle ($275,612). Lower values mean it needs a higher rate to raise the same money.
Spending
It spends $4,853 per household, 18% more than the middle ($4,124). It spends more on police (+$767), fire (+$432) and water and wastewater (+$321), and less on roads and bridges (−$462) and running the municipality (−$296).
← Less than the middleMore than the middle →
Police+$767
Fire+$432
Water and wastewater+$321
Roads and bridges−$462
Running the municipality−$296
More on why
Who gets the money
Of that rate, 0.50% goes to Lambton County and 0.15% to schools; 0.95% is set by Sarnia 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 Sarnia
Cost
Sarnia
Ontario middle
Rent, per monthmedian, 2021
$990Higher than 51% of 329
$980
Home valueowners’ estimate, 2021
$400,000The same as the middle
$400,000
Property tax on a $500,000 assessment2025
$8,333Higher than 78% of 283
$6,964
Households spending 30% or more on housingshare of income, 2021
18.0%Higher than 69% of 373
14.9%
Household incomemedian, before tax, 2020
$77,500Lower than 65% 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 Sarnia
The 5 places closest to Sarnia on total tax rate, assessment / household, spending per household, population, 5-year growth, people per household, among towns inside a county or region.
Municipalities that share Sarnia's county or district that have filed 2025. Rates compare most cleanly between places whose assessments sit at similar levels.
Residential is one of 12 classes Sarnia 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
Large Industrial
3.003476
2.97%
1.57%
0.88%
5.43%
Shopping Centre
2.083516
2.06%
1.09%
0.88%
4.03%
Industrial
2.047572
2.03%
1.07%
0.88%
3.98%
Commercial
1.627101
1.61%
0.85%
0.88%
3.34%
Office Building
1.535798
1.52%
0.80%
0.88%
3.20%
Multi-Residential
2
1.98%
1.05%
0.15%
3.18%
Pipeline
1.342355
1.33%
0.70%
0.88%
2.91%
Parking Lot
1.091161
1.08%
0.57%
0.68%
2.33%
New Multi-Residential
1
0.99%
0.52%
0.15%
1.67%
Residential
1
0.99%
0.52%
0.15%
1.67%
Managed Forest
0.25
0.25%
0.13%
0.04%
0.42%
Farmland
0.226
0.22%
0.12%
0.04%
0.38%
Sources and method
Tax rates and spending come from the Financial Information Return that Sarnia 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 Sarnia's 2025 total
residential rate with all 283 Ontario municipalities: 62 of the other 282 charge more. The five colours split them into fifths.
Municipality ID
MunID 38030, MAH 54102
Limits
These are the figures Sarnia 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.