Not the full picture. Built from public records, which leave things out.Older reportDetails

This is built from public records, which leave a lot out, and some of it may be wrong or out of date.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
An older report. We have no 2024 report for Stratford in the Province's latest release, so these pages use its 2023 report. It may simply be filed late.
Read by hand. We read Stratford'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 · 2023

How Stratford compares with similar places

Is Stratford 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 2023 return): 10 places with between 22,116 and 52,662 people.

How to read this. Each grey dot is one similar city. The large dot is Stratford, and the line marked "typical" is the city in the middle. The label and colour say where Stratford 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 Haldimand County, Brant County, St Thomas.

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.

$8,704Higher than 9 of 10 similar places. Typical: $5,862

typical

City property tax

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

$4,642Higher than 10 of 10 similar places. Typical: $4,095

typical

Running the city office

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

$693Higher than 7 of 10 similar places. Typical: $655

typical

Council

Council pay, expenses and meetings, per home.

$39Lower than 6 of 10 similar places. Typical: $42

typical

Roads and snow

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

$923Higher than 7 of 10 similar places. Typical: $869

typical

Snow ploughing

Per home.

$36Lower than 10 of 10 similar places. Typical: $136

typical

Police, fire and safety

Per home.

$1,627Higher than 6 of 10 similar places. Typical: $1,534

typical

Fire department

Per home.

$588Higher than 7 of 10 similar places. Typical: $511

typical

Police

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

$966Higher than 7 of 10 similar places. Typical: $933

typical

Water, sewers and garbage

Per home.

$976Higher than 6 of 10 similar places. Typical: $888

typical

Garbage, dump and recycling

Per home.

$449Higher than 10 of 10 similar places. Typical: $253

typical

Parks, arena and library

Per home.

$773Higher than 7 of 10 similar places. Typical: $557

typical

Planning and business

Per home.

$242Higher than 7 of 10 similar places. Typical: $177

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.

49%Lower than 6 of 10 similar places. Typical: 54%

typical

Savings (reserves)

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

$4,276Higher than 7 of 10 similar places. Typical: $3,162

typical

Long-term debt

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

$2,751Higher than 7 of 10 similar places. Typical: $2,219

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.

3%Lower than 10 of 10 similar places. Typical: 7%

typical

Share spent running the office

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

8%Lower than 8 of 10 similar places. Typical: 12%

typical

How worn out things are

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

39%Lower than 9 of 10 similar places. Typical: 45%

typical

How fast costs are growing

Growth over five years (2018 to 2023), 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.

7%Higher than 6 of 10 similar places. Typical: 6%

typical

Source: Ontario Financial Information Return (FIR), 2023, all 11 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.