Medicine Hat

All dollar amounts on this page are in Canadian dollars.

City introduction

Medicine Hat began in 1883, when the Canadian Pacific Railway reached the crossing of the South Saskatchewan River and a tent town grew up around construction of the bridge. Drilling for water instead struck natural gas — one of the largest gas fields in North America — and in 1903 the town council began supplying residents with gas, the start of the City's long history as a municipally owned utility operator. Medicine Hat was incorporated as a city in 1906, and by 1905 it was already the largest community in southeastern Alberta. The name derives from "saamis," the medicine man's hat.

Source: City of Medicine Hat — City of Medicine Hat, Our History.

Combined chart

Medicine Hat property tax increase, Canada inflation, and Canadian dollar Real CEER, 2015–2026

Bars: City of Medicine Hat property tax annual increase.

Lines: Canada inflation (Canada CPI annual average, Statistics Canada) and Canadian dollar Real CEER (Bank of Canada). CEER is on the separate right axis and is not a percentage.

Bars — Medicine Hat property tax increase
Line — Canada inflation (Statistics Canada CPI annual average)
Line — Canadian dollar Real CEER — Bank of Canada, annual average of monthly values, total index (1999=100)

Scope notes

All figures are the municipal portion only. The provincial education tax, which the municipality collects for the Province of Alberta and which forms a large part of an Alberta tax bill, is a separate levy with its own changes; it is not part of this series and is never added to the municipal figure.

Medicine Hat budgets two years at a time: Council approved a 5.6% property tax increase for each of 2025 and 2026 in the 2025–2026 budget, and the chart uses that approved budget figure. The final step in the City's process is also recorded here: when Council passed the final 2026 tax rate bylaw (Bylaw 4878-2026, April 20, 2026), the actual 2026 increase was set at 4.9%, using $1.1 million from the Tax Rate Stabilization Reserve (median single-detached home $359,500; municipal portion about +$115 per year). The chart follows the approved budget figure of 5.6%; the final tax rate bylaw figure is 4.9%, as the scope notes record. On the 2024 average single-detached assessment of $315,000, the budget figure works out at about +$10 per month on the municipal portion.

A year shown as “No data” has no bar for property tax and no line point for that series. A missing year breaks a line: no line segment crosses a gap, and no value is interpolated. Inflation for 2026 is not yet published as an annual average. Each Canadian dollar Real CEER value is the annual average of the 12 monthly total Real CEER values from the Bank of Canada (a computed annual average, not a figure the Bank publishes directly as an annual value). CEER is an index on a separate right axis and is not a percentage. CEER for 2026 is No data because the year is incomplete.

Data behind the chart

The data table below carries one row per year, in year order, with the tax increase, the inflation value and the CEER value for that year, or “No data” where a series has no verified figure.

Year	City of Medicine Hat property tax increase	Canada inflation — Statistics Canada CPI annual average	Canadian dollar Real CEER — Bank of Canada, annual average of monthly values, total index (1999=100)
2015	No data	1.1%	110.0
2016	No data	1.4%	108.4
2017	No data	1.6%	110.0
2018	No data	2.3%	109.3
2019	4%	1.9%	108.6
2020	0% (verified)	0.7%	108.0

Year	City of Medicine Hat property tax increase	Canada inflation — Statistics Canada CPI annual average	Canadian dollar Real CEER — Bank of Canada, annual average of monthly values, total index (1999=100)
2021	0% (verified)	3.4%	113.0
2022	No data	6.8%	113.0
2023	4%	3.9%	108.4
2024	4%	2.4%	107.6
2025	5.6%	2.1%	104.9
2026	5.6%	No data	No data

Sources for this chart:

City of Medicine Hat property tax increase, 2019: City of Medicine Hat, Budget Highlights 2019-2022
City of Medicine Hat property tax increase, 2020–2021: City of Medicine Hat, 2021 Budget Update Aims to Address $23M Gap
City of Medicine Hat property tax increase, 2023: City of Medicine Hat, 2023-2024 Budget Report
City of Medicine Hat property tax increase, 2024: City of Medicine Hat, Council approves 2024 Budget Update, 2024 property tax revenue holds steady at five per cent
City of Medicine Hat property tax increase, 2025–2026: City of Medicine Hat, Council approves 2025-2026 budget, 5.6 per cent property tax increase each year
Canada inflation, 2015–2025: Statistics Canada, Table 18-10-0005-01, CPI annual average. The 2026 annual average is not yet published.
Canadian dollar Real CEER, 2015–2025: Bank of Canada, Valet series CEER_BROADM, total index (1999=100), source file; explainer, Canadian effective exchange rates. Each value is the annual average of the 12 monthly total Real CEER values (a computed annual average, not a figure the Bank publishes directly as an annual value). CEER for 2026 is No data because the year is incomplete.

Housing property-tax historical trend

The trend uses one measure only: the property tax increase approved by Council. Each row is the figure for that year on that one measure. A year with no verified figure on that measure is shown as No data.

Year	Figure
2015	No data
2016	No data
2017	No data
2018	No data
2019	4%
2020	0%

Year	Figure
2021	0%
2022	No data
2023	4%
2024	4%
2025	5.6%
2026	5.6%

Separate note — tax rates, not the trend

This note is separate from the trend above and is not part of it. A residential tax rate per $1,000 of assessed value can move even when the levy increase is small, because the assessment base changes. Rate figures are therefore not used as the trend and are not mixed into the increase chart.

Residential class, per $1,000 of assessed value, from the City's published Current Tax Rates table. The City expresses its rates in mills; 1 mill = $1 per $1,000 of assessed value, so the mill figures are the per-$1,000 rates. Rates are set by Bylaw 4878-2026, passed April 20, 2026:

Year	Rate per $1,000	Scope	Source
2026	6.7438	municipal portion only — Single Family and Vacant Residential	City of Medicine Hat, Property Tax (Current Tax Rates), https://www.medicinehat.ca/home-property-utilities/assessment-property-taxes/property-tax/
2026	9.5505	total rate, all authorities — Municipal 6.7438 + Education 2.6937 + Cypress View 0.1130 (Single Family and Vacant Residential)	City of Medicine Hat, Property Tax (Current Tax Rates), https://www.medicinehat.ca/home-property-utilities/assessment-property-taxes/property-tax/
2026	7.7460	municipal portion only — Multi-Family Residential (total rate 10.5527)	City of Medicine Hat, Property Tax (Current Tax Rates), https://www.medicinehat.ca/home-property-utilities/assessment-property-taxes/property-tax/

Method

This trend uses one metric only, every year: the property tax increase approved by Council.

Where a city publishes an increase as components, the components are recorded in the scope notes; a total is used only where the city itself publishes it.

Canada inflation is Statistics Canada, Table 18-10-0005-01, CPI annual average. Canadian dollar Real CEER is Bank of Canada, Valet series CEER_BROADM, total index (1999=100); each value is the annual average of the 12 monthly total Real CEER values (a computed annual average, not a figure the Bank publishes directly as an annual value).

How to read this page

Bars are the Medicine Hat property tax increase. Lines are Canada inflation and Canadian dollar Real CEER.

The left axis is a percentage axis shared by the bars and the inflation line. The right axis is a separate index axis for Canadian dollar Real CEER only. CEER is an index and is not a percentage.

A year shown as “No data” has no bar for property tax and no line point for that series, and a missing year breaks a line. A verified 0% increase sits at the zero line and is marked “0% (verified)”.

Tax rates per $1,000 are separate from the trend and are not charted.

Sources

City of Medicine Hat introduction: City of Medicine Hat, Our History
City of Medicine Hat: City of Medicine Hat, Budget Highlights 2019-2022
City of Medicine Hat: City of Medicine Hat, 2021 Budget Update Aims to Address $23M Gap
City of Medicine Hat: City of Medicine Hat, 2023-2024 Budget Report
City of Medicine Hat: City of Medicine Hat, Council approves 2024 Budget Update, 2024 property tax revenue holds steady at five per cent
City of Medicine Hat: City of Medicine Hat, Council approves 2025-2026 budget, 5.6 per cent property tax increase each year
Statistics Canada, Table 18-10-0005-01: CPI annual average
Bank of Canada, Valet series CEER_BROADM: Real CEER source file

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This page is an independent guide. It is not a government site and it is not an official site. It is general information only and is not tax advice. Check the official City of Medicine Hat source before relying on a figure.