Township in Southwest Ontario, inside Elgin County
Southwold property tax rate, 2025
1.43%of the assessed value on your MPAC notice, each year
$7,160 a yearon a $500,000 home, or about $597 a month
Higher than 55% of the 414 Ontario municipalities
Each dot is one municipality, placed by its newest filed rate. Further right is higher.
Southwold 1.43%
Middle 1.40%10 more, up to 6.85%
0.5%1.0%1.5%2.0%2.5%3.0%
Southwold
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
Southwold
Southwold in short
$7,160 a year on a $500,000 home: $2,922 to Southwold council, $3,473 to Elgin County and $765 to schools.
Up 0.17 points since 2019, or $856 a year more on a $500,000 home.
Rent $810 a month, home value $600,000 in the 2021 Census, against an Ontario middle of $980 and $400,000.
2025 is the newest year Southwold 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 Southwold's rate: Southwold council at 0.58%, Elgin County at
0.69%, and the Province of Ontario for schools. The county portion is
48% of the bill, set by a council you vote for separately.
$2,922$3,473$765
Portion
Rate
On $500,000
Share
MunicipalSouthwold council
0.58%
$2,922
41%
County or regionElgin County
0.69%
$3,473
48%
EducationProvince of Ontario
0.15%
$765
11%
Total
1.43%
$7,160
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 0.17 percentage points, from 1.26% to 1.43%. On a $500,000 home that is $856 a year more than in 2019.
20191.26%$6,305
20201.26%$6,290
20211.29%$6,461
20221.31%$6,563
20231.36%$6,815
20241.40%$7,003
2025*1.43%$7,160
Total residential rate, with the tax on a $500,000 home underneath. *2025 is Southwold'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 $460M to
$647M, and the residential levy collected went from $6M
to $9M. 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
0.49%
0.61%
0.16%
1.26%
—
$6,305
2020
0.50%
0.61%
0.15%
1.26%
−0.00 pts
$6,290
2021
0.51%
0.62%
0.15%
1.29%
+0.03 pts
$6,461
2022
0.52%
0.64%
0.15%
1.31%
+0.02 pts
$6,563
2023
0.55%
0.66%
0.15%
1.36%
+0.05 pts
$6,815
2024
0.56%
0.68%
0.15%
1.40%
+0.04 pts
$7,003
2025*
0.58%
0.69%
0.15%
1.43%
+0.03 pts
$7,160
Why are Southwold property taxes so high?
They are not, measured against the rest of the province. Southwold's total rate of 1.43% sits close to the Ontario middle of 1.40%: higher than 55% of 414 municipalities. A bill can still feel high when the assessment is high, because the rate is only half of the calculation.
Home values
Homes here are assessed at $367,703 per household, 34% more than the middle ($274,250).
Spending
It spends $8,663 per household, 101% more than the middle ($4,313). It spends more on water and wastewater (+$1,495), roads and bridges (+$1,012) and planning and development (+$883), and less on parks and recreation (−$168) and libraries (−$30).
← Less than the middleMore than the middle →
Water and wastewater+$1,495
Roads and bridges+$1,012
Planning and development+$883
Parks and recreation−$168
Libraries−$30
More on why
Who gets the money
Of that rate, 0.69% goes to Elgin County and 0.15% to schools; 0.58% is set by Southwold 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 Southwold
Cost
Southwold
Ontario middle
Rent, per monthmedian, 2021
$810Lower than 78% of 354
$980
Home valueowners’ estimate, 2021
$600,000Higher than 74% of 412
$400,000
Property tax on a $500,000 assessment2025
$7,160Higher than 55% of 414
$6,992
Households spending 30% or more on housingshare of income, 2021
6.4%Lower than 94% of 400
15.0%
Household incomemedian, before tax, 2020
$105,000Higher than 85% 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 Southwold
The 5 places closest to Southwold 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 7 classes Southwold 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
2.8318
1.66%
1.97%
0.88%
4.50%
Industrial
2.2251
1.30%
1.55%
0.88%
3.73%
Commercial
1.6376
0.96%
1.14%
0.88%
2.97%
Pipeline
1.1446
0.67%
0.79%
0.88%
2.34%
Residential
1
0.58%
0.69%
0.15%
1.43%
Managed Forest
0.25
0.15%
0.17%
0.04%
0.36%
Farmland
0.23
0.13%
0.16%
0.04%
0.33%
Sources and method
Tax rates and spending come from the Financial Information Return that Southwold 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 Southwold's 2025 total
residential rate with all 414 Ontario municipalities: 187 of the other 413 charge more. The five colours split them into fifths.
Municipality ID
MunID 34024, MAH 44606
Limits
These are the figures Southwold 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.