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Not the full picture. Built from public records, which leave things out.Read by hand, Oct 2026DetailsThis is built from public records, which leave a lot out, and some of it may be wrong or out of date. Check the sources, and tell us if you spot a mistake. What this site can't tell you
Read by hand. We read Kitchener's own documents for this site in October 2026; the Sources page lists which ones. The comparisons with other places still come from the Province's yearly reports.

Compare · 2025

How Kitchener compares with similar places

Is Kitchener spending a lot or a little? The fairest way to tell is to compare it with places like it. We picked every Ontario city of the same type (Ontario lower-tier municipalities with 60% to 160% of this population that had filed their 2025 return): 6 places with between 187,500 and 367,721 people.

How to read this. Each grey dot is one similar city. The large dot is Kitchener, and the line marked "typical" is the city in the middle. The label and colour say where Kitchener sits:
  • ▼ Very low: lower than 90% of similar places
  • ▼ Low: lower than 75%
  • ≈ Typical: in the middle half
  • ▲ High: higher than 75%
  • ▲ Very high: higher than 90%
  • Warning mark: unusual in a worrying way for this measure, like very low savings or a very high tax increase
Being far from the middle is not wrong by itself, but it is where to start asking why.

One thing to keep in mind: "per home" uses the number of households each city reports to the Province. Some places count seasonal cottages as households and some do not, so comparisons with lake and cottage places are rougher than they look.

Spending per home

What the city spends on each service, divided by the number of homes. This makes big and small places comparable.

Total day-to-day spending

Everything the city spent in a year, divided by the number of homes.

$3,981Lower than 5 of 6 similar places. Typical: $4,227
typical

City property tax

The city's own share of property tax, divided by the number of homes.

$1,546Lower than 6 of 6 similar places. Typical: $2,168
typical

Running the city office

Council, managers, office staff and the city hall, per home.

$705Higher than 3 of 6 similar places. Typical: $705
typical

Council

Council pay, expenses and meetings, per home.

$17Lower than 6 of 6 similar places. Typical: $40
typical

Roads and snow

Per home. Places with many kilometres of rural road spend more.

$254Lower than 6 of 6 similar places. Typical: $434
typical

Snow ploughing

Per home.

$100Lower than 6 of 6 similar places. Typical: $136
typical

Police, fire and safety

Per home.

$549Lower than 6 of 6 similar places. Typical: $788
typical

Fire department

Per home.

$410Lower than 6 of 6 similar places. Typical: $560
typical

Police

Per home. Most small Ontario places pay the OPP under the same province-wide formula.

$0Lower than 0 of 6 similar places. Typical: $0
typical

Water, sewers and garbage

Per home.

$877Higher than 3 of 6 similar places. Typical: $877
typical

Garbage, dump and recycling

Per home.

$7Lower than 4 of 6 similar places. Typical: $94
typical

Parks, arena and library

Per home.

$825Higher than 3 of 6 similar places. Typical: $825
typical

Planning and business

Per home.

$171Lower than 4 of 6 similar places. Typical: $209
typical

Money health

Signs of whether the city is living within its means.

Savings compared with spending

Savings, as a share of one year's spending.

40%Lower than 6 of 6 similar places. Typical: 65%
typical

Savings (reserves)

Money set aside for repairs and emergencies, per home. More is safer.

$1,573Lower than 6 of 6 similar places. Typical: $2,726
typical

Long-term debt

What the city still owes on long-term loans, per home.

$1,361Higher than 4 of 6 similar places. Typical: $783
typical

Unpaid property taxes

Property taxes owed but not yet paid at year end, as a share of all taxes billed. The Province’s financial indicators treat 10% to 15% as a moderate risk and more than 15% as high.

10%Higher than 5 of 6 similar places. Typical: 8%
typical

Share spent running the office

Out of every dollar spent, how much goes to running the city office.

18%Higher than 3 of 6 similar places. Typical: 18%
typical

How worn out things are

How much of the value of roads, pipes and buildings has already been used up. Higher means older.

32%Higher than 3 of 6 similar places. Typical: 32%
typical

How fast costs are growing

Growth over five years (2020 to 2025), and the latest one-year change in property tax.

Property tax increase, last year

How much more the city collected in its own property tax than the year before.

6%Lower than 4 of 6 similar places. Typical: 6%
typical

Property tax growth, 5 years

How much the city's own property tax grew over five years.

29%Higher than 4 of 6 similar places. Typical: 26%
typical

Spending growth, 5 years

How much day-to-day spending grew over five years.

43%Higher than 3 of 6 similar places. Typical: 43%
typical

Office cost growth, 5 years

How much the cost of running the city office grew over five years.

49%Lower than 4 of 6 similar places. Typical: 69%
typical

Council cost growth, 5 years

How much council costs grew over five years.

43%Higher than 4 of 6 similar places. Typical: −1%
typical

Parks and arena cost growth, 5 years

How much parks, arena and library costs grew over five years.

83%Higher than 5 of 6 similar places. Typical: 68%
typical

Roads cost growth, 5 years

How much road and snow costs grew over five years.

36%Higher than 3 of 6 similar places. Typical: 36%
typical

Source: Ontario Financial Information Return (FIR), 2025, all 7 municipalities (archived copy). Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. Retrieved 2026-10-01. Figures are what the municipality reported to the Province for each year, prepared on the same basis as its audited financial statements.

Places sort costs into categories a little differently, and some share services with neighbours, so small gaps mean little. Big gaps are worth a question.