Financial facts

Investing in what matters most to Calgarians

We use your feedback to help create our Service Plans and Budgets. These plans guide how we deliver City services. Each year, Council can update them to support what Calgarians need and to help keep Calgary one of the most livable cities in North America and the world.

View 2025 City service investments

Where do your property tax dollars go?

More than one-third of your property tax goes to the Province. The rest helps pay for services like Fire, Police, and Transit. Property taxes make up less than half of our operating budget. The rest comes from other sources like user fees, permits, and licenses.

Get your property tax breakdown

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Residential property tax breakdown 

63% funds City of Calgary service

37% goes to The Government of Alberta

2025 property tax change - Calgary 5.2% increase and Alberta 15.6% increase. Click to see how Calgary uses your tax dollars.

Property tax affordability

Calgary remains one of the most affordable cities in Canada for property tax when comparing the median single residential property. While Calgary’s taxes are similar to nearby cities and towns, we offer more services in comparison. Over the past five years, we’ve had the smallest average property tax increase compared to other major cities. Today, rapid population and inflation growth have outpaced City forecasts, placing pressure on our service delivery.

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Three graphs with average property tax information. 

Graph 1: 

% household income spent on property tax

  • Toronto 5.9%
  • Vancouver 5.6%
  • Ottawa 4.2%
  • Edmonton 2.9% 
  • Winnipeg 2.6%
  • Calgary 2.2%
  • Rocky View 2%
  • Okotoks 2.0%
  • Cochrane 2.0%
  • Airdrie 1.9%
  • Chestermere 1.6%

Graph 2: 

Average household property tax paid

  • Toronto $4966
  • Vancouver $4631
  • Ottawa $4327
  • Edmonton $3284
  • Rocky View $3266
  • Okotoks $2637
  • Cochrane $2584
  • Calgary $2564
  • Airdrie $2373
  • Chestermere $2284
  • Winnipeg $2049

Graph 3:

  • Vancouver 6.4%
  • Toronto. 4.9%
  • Edmonton 4.3%
  • Ottawa 2.9%
  • Winnipeg 3.5%
  • Calgary 2.7%

Popular tax questions

Learn about our Finances

Learn how we manage City finances to help keep Calgary affordable despite rapid inflation and population growth.

Managing City finances

Learn more about why we have reserves, how we use them, and how they connect to our surplus and overall finances.

City reserves

Managing our finances carefully can result in savings, or a favourable operating variance. Council can use these funds to better support Calgarians.

Annual operating variance

Calgary's strong financial management is recognized as one of the best in Canada.

The City of Calgary Newsroom

Learn why Council increased the tax responsibility of residential properties 1% from 2024 to 2026 to support local businesses.

Municipal tax share

We manage our workforce wisely. We have one of the lowest full-time equivalents (FTEs) per thousand people among major Canadian cities.

Managing our workforce

View our financial, long-range plans and Service Plans and budget reports.

Financial reports

Priority capital projects do not increase property tax or impact how we deliver City services.

Major infrastructure projects

Learn more about gas and electricity charges, Local Access Fees, and our efforts to investigate changes for Calgarians.

Understanding franchise fees

Our finances are impacted by an estimated downloading of $436.9 million annually from other orders of government. Read the Municipal Fiscal Gap Report.

Financial Task Force
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