Oshawa

All dollar amounts on this page are in Canadian dollars.

City introduction

Oshawa sits on the north shore of Lake Ontario and is the largest urban municipality in Durham Region, at the eastern gateway to the Greater Toronto Area. The city marked its centennial in 2024, having become a city on March 8, 1924. Its industrial history is closely tied to the automotive sector: the McLaughlin Motor Car Company led to the creation of General Motors of Canada in 1918, and the city remains a centre for automotive and advanced manufacturing.

Source: City of Oshawa — City of Oshawa, Community Profile 2024.

Combined chart

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

Bars: City of Oshawa portion — its share of the whole residential tax bill 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 — Oshawa municipal share of the whole-bill 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 use one calibre only: the increase in the City of Oshawa portion of the residential bill expressed as its effect on the total residential tax bill (the municipal share of the whole-bill increase). The Region of Durham and education portions make up the rest of the bill and are never part of this series.

The City's own 2026 budget material also uses the wording “3.98 per cent increase to the operating budget, resulting in an annual property tax increase of approximately $75”, and states an overall 0.58% decrease when capital is included. The basis of the 3.98% (levy growth, or growth measured another way) is not defined in that material, and provincial summaries describe it as a levy increase on an undefined scope. Because its scope cannot be tied to the municipal-share calibre, it is recorded here as a disclosure and is never charted. Two proposed figures for 2026 — a 4.68% draft levy increase and a revised 1.97% — were not adopted and are not used.

For earlier years the City publishes rates and budget documents but no adopted figure in this share-of-whole-bill calibre that could be verified, so 2015–2025 are No data. The 2026 adopted rates are on record in the research file: City of Oshawa 0.659196% and a whole-bill residential rate of 1.575342%.

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 Oshawa portion — share of the whole-bill 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	No data	1.9%	108.6
2020	No data	0.7%	108.0

Year	City of Oshawa portion — share of the whole-bill 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	No data	3.4%	113.0
2022	No data	6.8%	113.0
2023	No data	3.9%	108.4
2024	No data	2.4%	107.6
2025	No data	2.1%	104.9
2026	1.68%	No data	No data

Sources for this chart:

City of Oshawa property tax increase, 2026: City of Oshawa, How the City gets money
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 percentage increase in the City of Oshawa portion of the residential property tax bill, expressed as its effect on the total residential tax bill (the municipal share of the whole-bill increase). 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	No data
2020	No data

Year	Figure
2021	No data
2022	No data
2023	No data
2024	No data
2025	No data
2026	1.68%

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.

2026 residential rates (City of Oshawa official property tax rates page):

City of Oshawa portion: 0.659196% = $6.59196 per $1,000 of assessment

Durham Region portion: 0.763146%

Education portion: 0.153000%

Total residential rate: 1.575342% = $15.75342 per $1,000 of assessment

Source: City of Oshawa, Property tax rates: https://www.oshawa.ca/living-here/property-taxes/property-tax-rates/

Note: the Region rate shown on Oshawa's own page (0.763146%) differs from the 0.780760% shown on other Durham lower-tier pages; each municipality's own official page is reproduced as published.

Method

This trend uses one metric only, every year: the percentage increase in the City of Oshawa portion of the residential property tax bill, expressed as its effect on the total residential tax bill (the municipal share of the whole-bill increase).

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 Oshawa municipal share of the whole-bill 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.

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

Sources

City of Oshawa introduction: City of Oshawa, Community Profile 2024
City of Oshawa: City of Oshawa, How the City gets money
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 Oshawa source before relying on a figure.