Waterloo

All dollar amounts on this page are in Canadian dollars.

City introduction

Waterloo is a lower-tier city in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo in southwestern Ontario. Its property tax bill is made up of three separate parts — the City of Waterloo portion, the Region of Waterloo portion and the education (school board) portion — and the City sets only its own portion through its annual budget.

Source: City of Waterloo — City of Waterloo, Check property tax rates.

Combined chart

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

Bars: City of Waterloo property tax rate 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 — Waterloo property tax rate 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 (lower-tier) portion only. The regional municipality's portion and the provincial education tax are set by those bodies, appear on the same bill, and are never part of this series or added to the municipal figure.

Waterloo approves its budgets in multi-year cycles, and its figures are restated more than once before they are final. Only the final confirmed values are recorded: for 2024–2026 they are the values on the City's property taxes page (6.14%, 6.34% and 6.41%, with average-household impacts of about +$91, +$99 and +$107). The submitted-budget figures of 7.46%, 7.30% and 6.44% for those cycles were drafts and are not used.

For 2023 the City's own publications differ by 0.01 points (5.45% in the budget book, 5.46% on a past-budget page); the budget book figure of 5.45% is the one recorded. For 2020–2022 the City published a three-year average of about 3.3% per year rather than separate approved figures for each year, so those years are No data: the average is not split into invented yearly values.

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 Waterloo property tax rate 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 Waterloo property tax rate 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	5.45%	3.9%	108.4
2024	6.14%	2.4%	107.6
2025	6.34%	2.1%	104.9
2026	6.41%	No data	No data

Sources for this chart:

City of Waterloo property tax increase, 2023: City of Waterloo, 2023 Approved Operating Budget Book
City of Waterloo property tax increase, 2024–2026: City of Waterloo, Property taxes and utility rates
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 City of Waterloo's own property tax rate 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	No data
2020	No data

Year	Figure
2021	No data
2022	No data
2023	5.45%
2024	6.14%
2025	6.34%
2026	6.41%

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.

The City publishes its tax rates as percentages of assessed value. For 2026, the City of Waterloo residential rate is 0.437426% of assessed value, equal to $4.37426 per $1,000 of assessment; the total residential rate (City + Region of Waterloo + education) is 1.432260%, equal to $14.32260 per $1,000. No multi-year City-published residential rate-per-$1,000 series is recorded here. Source: City of Waterloo, Check property tax rates, https://www.waterloo.ca/water-and-tax-billing/tax-billing/check-property-tax-rates/

Method

This trend uses one metric only, every year: the City of Waterloo's own property tax rate 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 Waterloo property tax rate 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 Waterloo introduction: City of Waterloo, Check property tax rates
City of Waterloo: City of Waterloo, 2023 Approved Operating Budget Book
City of Waterloo: City of Waterloo, Property taxes and utility rates
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 Waterloo source before relying on a figure.