Which city taxes a house more heavily, Toronto or Calgary? The published rates put the
two within about a tenth of a percentage point of each other, which makes the
comparison look almost boring.
The number that matters is the one the rate gets multiplied by, and on that measure the
two cities are running entirely different systems. A Toronto owner is taxed on what a
house was worth in 2016. A Calgary owner is taxed on what a house was worth last
July.
The Rates Side by Side
Toronto’s 2026 residential rate totals 0.767311%. That figure combines a city rate of
0.605295% with a provincial education rate of 0.153000% and a City Building Fund levy
of 0.009016%. The City of Toronto’s own example applies that total to an assessed
value of $692,140 and produces a bill of about $5,311.
Calgary’s combined residential rate for 2026 works out near 0.665%. On the median
single-family assessment of $706,000, the full bill comes to roughly $4,700 once the
municipal and provincial portions are added together. The two bills are within about
$600 of each other.
Assessment Bases in the Two Systems
Calgary reassesses every property every year, and a 2026 assessment notice
estimates market value as of July 1, 2025. The median single-family assessment moved
from $697,000 in 2025 to $706,000 in 2026, roughly a 1% change, so the assessed
value tracks the market with a six-month lag.
Ontario stopped doing that. The valuation date behind every Ontario assessment is still
January 1, 2016. A reassessment was scheduled for 2020, postponed during the
pandemic, and postponed again by regulation every year since. A Toronto house
assessed at $692,140 in 2016 may well trade for double that today, and the assessed
value behind its tax bill does not move. Someone buying a house in Calgary after selling
in Toronto is moving from a frozen base to a live one, which changes how the bill
behaves in the years after possession.
Allocation of the Bill
About 42% of a Calgary residential bill goes to the Government of Alberta, collected by
the city, which sets none of it. The remaining 58% funds municipal services. Calgary
remits more than $1.2 billion to the province, and the provincial requisition per capita
there reached $773 in 2026 against $516 in Edmonton.
The education property tax produced the pressure on Calgary bills in 2026. Alberta lifted
its residential rate from $2.72 to $2.84 per $1,000 of assessed value, a 19.8% increase
in residential revenue and $212 million more from Calgary property owners. Toronto’s
education share is smaller and static at 0.153%, set by Ontario’s Ministry of Finance
and unchanged in the 2026 rate table.
The City Building Fund is a separate instrument on the same bill. Council created it in
December 2019 and set it to rise by fixed annual increments, adding 1% in 2020 and
2021 on top of an existing half-point, then 1.5% every year from 2022 through 2026. It is
dedicated to transit and housing capital spending, and it appears on the bill as its own
line at 0.009016%. A Toronto owner reading a modest headline increase is looking at a
rate that has been growing on a schedule set six years ago.
The 2026 Increases
Toronto proposed a 2.2% property tax increase for 2026, split between 0.7% on the
residential rate and 1.5% on the City Building Fund levy. That levy has increased by
1.5% annually since 2022 under a 2019 council decision, so the headline number
understates what has accumulated across five bills.
Calgary council approved a 1.64% increase in its 2026 budget, later finalized at 1.2%
across all property types. A typical homeowner still opened a bill about 8.1% higher than
the year before. The municipal share of that was $49. The provincial share was $338,
on top of $218 the year before.
The Multi-Residential Rate in Toronto
Toronto applies a separate rate to multi-residential property, and the gap is wide
enough to change an acquisition model. Residential is charged 0.767311% while multi-
residential is charged 1.208792%, close to 1.6 times as much on the same assessed
dollar. An owner converting a house into a rental building crosses a rate boundary that
does not exist in Alberta.
Toronto introduced a new multi-residential subclass in 2025 to soften that. Qualifying
new rental properties are taxed at the residential rate and receive a 15% reduction in
municipal property taxes, with MPAC identifying the owners who qualify. New buildings
get the benefit and the existing stock keeps paying the higher rate for 35 years before
moving to the standard multi-residential rate. Calgary applies one residential rate to a
bungalow, a duplex and an apartment condominium alike, so the tax question in that
market is about assessed value and nothing else.
Condominium and House Assessments
Annual assessment splits a market by property type. Calgary’s median condominium
assessment fell to $347,000 in 2026 from $359,000 in 2025, while the median single-
family assessment rose to $706,000 from $697,000. Those two owners face the same
tax rate and receive bills moving in opposite directions.
In Toronto, neither owner sees any of that, because both assessments were fixed in
2016. A downtown condo that has lost value since the 2022 peak is taxed on a number
set before the building was finished.
Assessment Review and Deadlines
Calgary mails assessment notices in January and runs a customer review period that
closed on March 23 for the 2026 roll. An owner who misses that window is paying on
that assessment for the full year.
Ontario runs the job through a separate body. A property assessment there is prepared
by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation, an organization separate from the
municipality that bills you. Because values are locked at 2016, a Toronto appeal argues
about what a house was worth in a market that closed a decade ago. Comparable sales
from last spring are not evidence.
Portfolio Implications Across the Two Cities
An investor holding property in both cities is running two different exposures. The
Calgary bill responds to the market and to a provincial budget the city does not control,
which produced a 21% jump in one line item this year with no vote at city hall. The
Toronto bill is tied to a decade-old number, which suppresses volatility until the province
ends the freeze, at which point the correction arrives in one step for properties that have
appreciated fastest.
Property tax rates are simply a levy on land and buildings, charged as a share of an
assessed value. Everything that makes the Toronto and Calgary bills feel different
comes from the second half of that definition. The rate is a policy decision published
once a year. The assessed value is a moving estimate in Alberta and a fixed historical
artifact in Ontario, and a buyer comparing the two cities is really comparing those two
estimates.