Not the full picture. Built from public records, which leave things out.Read by hand, Oct 2026Details

This is built from public records, which leave a lot out, and some of it may be wrong or out of date.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 Owen Sound'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 · 2024

How Owen Sound compares with similar places

Is Owen Sound 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 2024 return): 51 places with between 13,085 and 32,901 people.

How to read this. Each grey dot is one similar city. The large dot is Owen Sound, and the line marked "typical" is the city in the middle. The label and colour say where Owen Sound 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.

Similar places in Southwestern Ontario include Orangeville, Guelph-Eramosa, Woolwich, North Perth, Tillsonburg, Ingersoll, Central Elgin, Leamington.

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.

$5,050Higher than 47 of 51 similar places. Typical: $3,603

typical

City property tax

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

$3,316Higher than 45 of 51 similar places. Typical: $2,441

typical

Running the city office

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

$455Lower than 33 of 51 similar places. Typical: $550

typical

Council

Council pay, expenses and meetings, per home.

$123Higher than 47 of 51 similar places. Typical: $46

typical

Roads and snow

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

$629Lower than 27 of 51 similar places. Typical: $644

typical

Snow ploughing

Per home.

$142Higher than 45 of 51 similar places. Typical: $63

typical

Police, fire and safety

Per home.

$1,947Higher than 51 of 51 similar places. Typical: $722

typical

Fire department

Per home.

$503Higher than 50 of 51 similar places. Typical: $242

typical

Police

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

$1,214Higher than 51 of 51 similar places. Typical: $303

typical

Water, sewers and garbage

Per home.

$965Higher than 38 of 51 similar places. Typical: $754

typical

Garbage, dump and recycling

Per home.

$107Higher than 26 of 51 similar places. Typical: $107

typical

Parks, arena and library

Per home.

$851Higher than 44 of 51 similar places. Typical: $607

typical

Planning and business

Per home.

$155Lower than 28 of 51 similar places. Typical: $174

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.

79%Lower than 32 of 51 similar places. Typical: 97%

typical

Savings (reserves)

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

$4,012Higher than 33 of 51 similar places. Typical: $3,211

typical

Long-term debt

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

$2,859Higher than 38 of 51 similar places. Typical: $1,215

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.

7%Lower than 32 of 51 similar places. Typical: 8%

typical

Share spent running the office

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

9%Lower than 49 of 51 similar places. Typical: 16%

typical

How worn out things are

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

40%Lower than 28 of 51 similar places. Typical: 41%

typical

How fast costs are growing

Growth over five years (2019 to 2024), 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.

5%Lower than 43 of 51 similar places. Typical: 8%

typical

Property tax growth, 5 years

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

19%Lower than 47 of 51 similar places. Typical: 33%

typical

Spending growth, 5 years

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

25%Lower than 40 of 51 similar places. Typical: 36%

typical

Office cost growth, 5 years

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

18%Lower than 43 of 51 similar places. Typical: 49%

typical

Council cost growth, 5 years

How much council costs grew over five years.

15%Lower than 35 of 50 similar places. Typical: 24%

typical

Parks and arena cost growth, 5 years

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

27%Lower than 38 of 51 similar places. Typical: 35%

typical

Roads cost growth, 5 years

How much road and snow costs grew over five years.

0%Lower than 44 of 51 similar places. Typical: 28%

typical

Source: Ontario Financial Information Return (FIR), 2024, all 52 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.