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This is built from public records, which leave a lot out, and some of it may be wrong or out of date.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 Pembroke'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 Pembroke compares with similar places

Is Pembroke 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 single-tier municipalities with 60% to 160% of this population that had filed their 2024 return): 5 places with between 9,254 and 14,967 people.

How to read this. Each grey dot is one similar city. The large dot is Pembroke, and the line marked "typical" is the city in the middle. The label and colour say where Pembroke 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 Eastern Ontario include Smiths Falls ST.

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.

$5,350Lower than 4 of 5 similar places. Typical: $6,459

typical

City property tax

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

$4,002Lower than 3 of 5 similar places. Typical: $4,180

typical

Running the city office

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

$512Lower than 4 of 5 similar places. Typical: $681

typical

Council

Council pay, expenses and meetings, per home.

$46Lower than 3 of 5 similar places. Typical: $50

typical

Roads and snow

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

$595Lower than 5 of 5 similar places. Typical: $777

typical

Snow ploughing

Per home.

$48Lower than 3 of 5 similar places. Typical: $49

typical

Police, fire and safety

Per home.

$1,317Higher than 3 of 5 similar places. Typical: $1,317

typical

Fire department

Per home.

$500Higher than 5 of 5 similar places. Typical: $362

typical

Police

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

$724Higher than 3 of 5 similar places. Typical: $724

typical

Water, sewers and garbage

Per home.

$1,353Higher than 3 of 5 similar places. Typical: $1,353

typical

Garbage, dump and recycling

Per home.

$345Higher than 4 of 5 similar places. Typical: $331

typical

Parks, arena and library

Per home.

$718Lower than 3 of 5 similar places. Typical: $789

typical

Planning and business

Per home.

$143Lower than 3 of 5 similar places. Typical: $341

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.

64%Higher than 3 of 5 similar places. Typical: 64%

typical

Savings (reserves)

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

$3,398Lower than 3 of 5 similar places. Typical: $3,484

typical

Long-term debt

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

$1,709Lower than 3 of 5 similar places. Typical: $2,815

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 4 of 5 similar places. Typical: 9%

typical

Share spent running the office

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

10%Lower than 3 of 5 similar places. Typical: 11%

typical

How worn out things are

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

48%Higher than 3 of 5 similar places. Typical: 48%

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.

8%Higher than 3 of 5 similar places. Typical: 8%

typical

Property tax growth, 5 years

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

20%Lower than 3 of 5 similar places. Typical: 25%

typical

Spending growth, 5 years

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

19%Higher than 3 of 5 similar places. Typical: 19%

typical

Office cost growth, 5 years

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

22%Higher than 3 of 5 similar places. Typical: 22%

typical

Council cost growth, 5 years

How much council costs grew over five years.

16%Lower than 4 of 5 similar places. Typical: 27%

typical

Parks and arena cost growth, 5 years

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

26%Higher than 4 of 5 similar places. Typical: 26%

typical

Roads cost growth, 5 years

How much road and snow costs grew over five years.

17%Higher than 3 of 5 similar places. Typical: 17%

typical

Source: Ontario Financial Information Return (FIR), 2024, all 6 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.