Ottawa

All dollar amounts on this page are in Canadian dollars.

City introduction

Ottawa is Canada's capital and, in the City's own description, one of the most livable mid-sized cities in North America. The City presents it as a globally connected city where national institutions meet local creativity, with one of the most educated workforces in North America, a thriving technology and life sciences ecosystem, and a bilingual, multicultural population. Its stated growth sectors include clean technology, defence and aerospace, and health sciences, alongside a current focus on talent and downtown revitalization.

Source: City of Ottawa — City of Ottawa, Why Ottawa?.

Combined chart

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

Bars: City of Ottawa overall property tax annual increase, as published in the City's comparison table.

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 — Ottawa overall 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 City of Ottawa's overall property tax increase, as published in the City's own comparison table. Ottawa is single-tier: there is no regional portion. The provincial education tax is set by the Province and is not part of this series.

Ottawa is a single-tier municipality: there is no upper-tier regional portion. The City's published total combines its city-wide, police and transit levies, and the components are recorded as the City gives them: for 2025, city-wide 2.9%, police 2.9% and transit 8%, for a published total of 3.9%; for 2026, city-wide 2.0%, police 5.0% and transit 8%, for a published total of 3.75%. The provincial education tax is set by the Province and is not part of this series.

The whole series, 2016–2026, is taken from the City of Ottawa's own published comparison table, “How does the City compare with other municipalities?” The table begins in 2016; no same-calibre official figure was found for 2015, so 2015 is No data.

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 Ottawa overall 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	2.00%	1.4%	108.4
2017	2.00%	1.6%	110.0
2018	2.00%	2.3%	109.3
2019	3.00%	1.9%	108.6
2020	3.00%	0.7%	108.0

Year	City of Ottawa overall 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	3.00%	3.4%	113.0
2022	3.00%	6.8%	113.0
2023	2.50%	3.9%	108.4
2024	2.50%	2.4%	107.6
2025	3.90%	2.1%	104.9
2026	3.75%	No data	No data

Sources for this chart:

City of Ottawa property tax increase, 2016–2026: City of Ottawa, How does the City compare with other municipalities?
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 overall property tax increase the City of Ottawa publishes in its own comparison table (the city-wide, police and transit levies as one published total). 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	2.00%
2017	2.00%
2018	2.00%
2019	3.00%
2020	3.00%

Year	Figure
2021	3.00%
2022	3.00%
2023	2.50%
2024	2.50%
2025	3.90%
2026	3.75%

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.

No verified rate is recorded in this section. No City of Ottawa official tax-rate table was directly opened and checked, so no residential rate per $1,000 (and no rate converted from a percentage) is adopted here. The only other Ottawa rate figures found were third-party summaries (for example a WOWA-style total of 1.272144% and blog figures of about 1.27%); third-party figures are not used as sources on this site, so none of them is used. A rate may be added only after the City's own tax-rate table or tax-rate bylaw is opened and checked directly.

Method

This trend uses one metric only, every year: the overall property tax increase the City of Ottawa publishes in its own comparison table (the city-wide, police and transit levies as one published total).

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 Ottawa overall 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.

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

Sources

City of Ottawa introduction: City of Ottawa, Why Ottawa?
City of Ottawa: City of Ottawa, How does the City compare with other municipalities?
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 Ottawa source before relying on a figure.