1.46%of the assessed value on your MPAC notice, each year
$7,318 a yearon a $500,000 home, or about $610 a month
Higher than 63% of the 386 Ontario municipalities
Each dot is one municipality, placed by its 2024 rate. Further right is higher.
St Catharines 1.46%
Middle 1.35%6 more, up to 5.30%
0.5%1.0%1.5%2.0%2.5%3.0%
St Catharines
Middle 1.35%6 more, to 5.30%
0.5%1.0%1.5%2.0%2.5%3.0%
Lowest fifth
Low
Middle fifth
High
Highest fifth
St Catharines
St Catharines in short
$7,318 a year on a $500,000 home: $3,223 to St Catharines council, $3,331 to Niagara Region and $765 to schools.
Up 0.20 points since 2019, or $1,001 a year more on a $500,000 home.
Rent $1,100 a month, home value $548,000 in the 2021 Census, against an Ontario middle of $980 and $400,000.
St Catharines has not filed 2025 with the province yet, so this page uses 2024. 282 of the 386 municipalities have filed 2025.
Who sets the rate
Three bodies set St Catharines's rate: St Catharines council at 0.64%, Niagara Region at
0.67%, and the Province of Ontario for schools. The county portion is
46% of the bill, set by a council you vote for separately.
$3,223$3,331$765
Portion
Rate
On $500,000
Share
MunicipalSt Catharines council
0.64%
$3,223
44%
County or regionNiagara Region
0.67%
$3,331
46%
EducationProvince of Ontario
0.15%
$765
10%
Total
1.46%
$7,318
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, 2019–2024
Up every year since 2019. Since 2019 the total rate here has risen by 0.20 percentage points, from 1.26% to 1.46%. On a $500,000 home that is $1,001 a year more than in 2019.
20191.26%$6,317
20201.27%$6,353
20211.29%$6,443
20221.32%$6,608
20231.42%$7,076
20241.46%$7,318
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 $12,148M to
$12,572M, and the residential levy collected went from $149M
to $184M. 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
0.54%
0.57%
0.16%
1.26%
—
$6,317
2020
0.54%
0.58%
0.15%
1.27%
+0.01 pts
$6,353
2021
0.55%
0.59%
0.15%
1.29%
+0.02 pts
$6,443
2022
0.57%
0.60%
0.15%
1.32%
+0.03 pts
$6,608
2023
0.64%
0.62%
0.15%
1.42%
+0.09 pts
$7,076
2024
0.64%
0.67%
0.15%
1.46%
+0.05 pts
$7,318
Why are St Catharines property taxes so high?
St Catharines's total rate of 1.46% is 0.11 percentage points above the provincial middle (1.35%). A rate that high usually means the assessment base is small relative to what the budget must cover: $12.57B of taxable residential value funds $184.0M in levy here.
Home values
Homes here are assessed at $213,428 per household, 23% less than the middle ($275,612). Lower values mean it needs a higher rate to raise the same money.
Spending
It spends $3,929 per household, about the same as the middle ($4,124). It spends more on fire (+$327), water and wastewater (+$225) and parks and recreation (+$219), and less on roads and bridges (−$568) and running the municipality (−$308).
← Less than the middleMore than the middle →
Fire+$327
Water and wastewater+$225
Parks and recreation+$219
Roads and bridges−$568
Running the municipality−$308
More on why
Who gets the money
Of that rate, 0.67% goes to Niagara Region and 0.15% to schools; 0.64% is set by St Catharines 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 St Catharines
Cost
St Catharines
Ontario middle
Rent, per monthmedian, 2021
$1,100Higher than 71% of 329
$980
Home valueowners’ estimate, 2021
$548,000Higher than 70% of 384
$400,000
Property tax on a $500,000 assessment2024
$7,318Higher than 63% of 386
$6,758
Households spending 30% or more on housingshare of income, 2021
23.8%Higher than 91% of 373
14.9%
Household incomemedian, before tax, 2020
$72,500Lower than 76% 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 St Catharines
The 5 places closest to St Catharines 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 11 classes St Catharines 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
1.70%
1.75%
0.88%
4.33%
Large Industrial
2.63
1.70%
1.75%
0.88%
4.33%
Commercial
1.7349
1.12%
1.16%
0.88%
3.15%
Office Building
1.7349
1.12%
1.16%
0.88%
3.15%
Parking Lot
1.7349
1.12%
1.16%
0.88%
3.15%
Shopping Centre
1.7349
1.12%
1.16%
0.88%
3.15%
Pipeline
1.7021
1.10%
1.13%
0.88%
3.11%
Multi-Residential
1.97
1.27%
1.31%
0.15%
2.73%
New Multi-Residential
1
0.64%
0.67%
0.15%
1.46%
Residential
1
0.64%
0.67%
0.15%
1.46%
Farmland
0.25
0.16%
0.17%
0.04%
0.37%
Sources and method
Tax rates and spending come from the Financial Information Return that St Catharines 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 St Catharines's 2024 total
residential rate with all 386 Ontario municipalities: 142 of the other 385 charge more. The five colours split them into fifths.
Municipality ID
MunID 26053, MAH 18103
Limits
These are the figures St Catharines 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.