Downtown has Vancouver’s biggest total tax bill. The typical notice tells another story.

Downtown’s published property-tax bills add up to $467.5 million. That is more than three times Kitsilano’s total. Yet the middle notice Downtown is $2,661, compared with $19,840 in Shaughnessy.

Vancouver’s expensive houses get plenty of attention. The tax map gives us a reason to pay more attention to its apartment neighbourhoods, and to the amount of homes and business space they fit into a small part of the city.

We added up Vancouver’s published 2026 tax notices and mapped them across the City’s 22 local areas. Downtown accounts for 19.7% of the mapped dollars on 3.9% of the area within those boundaries.

The totals cover full tax notices, including Vancouver’s share, other taxing authorities and utility charges.

Downtown combines many properties with higher business tax rates

Start with the number of accounts. Downtown has 43,136 in our comparison, against 2,833 in Shaughnessy, within neighbourhood boundaries of roughly similar size. That works out to about 92 accounts per hectare Downtown and six in Shaughnessy. These range from individual strata homes to whole rental buildings and commercial properties.

Then there are the offices, shops and hotels in the central business district. Those generally fall into BC Assessment’s business and other property class, which faces a higher tax rate than residential property.

At the same taxable value, business-class property faces about 3.67 times the municipal general-purpose tax in 2026. On $1 million of taxable value, the standard rates work out to:

City of Vancouver residential rates and business rates. Municipal general-purpose levy only, before relief.

That combination helps explain Downtown’s lead. Many homes, substantial commercial property and higher business rates all contribute to the total. A neighbourhood can have a modest middle bill and still add up to a great deal.

Kitsilano comes second in total dollars, at $140.6 million, followed by the West End at $132.2 million.

Shaughnessy has large individual bills, but less per hectare

The City describes Shaughnessy’s estate-like character in terms of large lots, winding boulevards and landscaping. A valuable house on a large lot can generate a substantial bill while spreading that bill over much more land than a building with many separately taxed apartments.

The West End makes the contrast clear. It has about $586,000 in published notices per hectare, compared with $158,000 in Shaughnessy. That is about 3.7 times as much per hectare, even though its median notice is only $2,822, against Shaughnessy’s $19,840. The West End generates nearly twice the total billed amount within roughly half the area.

Shaughnessy’s $70.7 million total ranks 17th of 22 local areas, and it ranks 12th per hectare, with the highest values ranked first. Its median notice is the highest in the city. There are substantial bills here, spread across substantial pieces of land.

For us, the West End is the more interesting model. Its apartment buildings let many more homes share a neighbourhood, and the bills add up. That contribution deserves more attention in a city so accustomed to treating large detached properties as the desirable default.

Here are four neighbourhoods side by side:

The middle bill is smaller Downtown

The median Downtown notice is about one-seventh of Shaughnessy’s. With individual strata units sitting alongside whole buildings and business properties, the mix of accounts explains why the middle bill can be small even where the total is enormous.

Apartments deserve more credit

We think this should change how Vancouver talks about density. The conversation often starts with what new neighbours will need: a school place, a bus, a patch of park. The tax map gives us another part of the picture. Places with room for many homes and businesses also account for substantial tax bills.

The West End’s $132.2 million is a useful figure to have in mind the next time apartments are treated mainly as a burden on an established neighbourhood. We should be more willing to welcome the people and businesses those buildings can accommodate.

Large lots are a choice about how much of Vancouver gets to be shared. We would like more room for apartments and shops in places where an expensive detached house is still treated as the obvious use of an entire lot.

Explore the neighbourhood map and comparisons.

Sources and method

The source is the City’s property tax report joined to its local-area boundaries, using the saved October 15, 2026 snapshot. We include records tagged for both the 2026 tax year and 2026 assessment year. The analysis maps 223,562 of 223,600 eligible records. The 38 unmatched records total $241,058.03 and are excluded from neighbourhood comparisons. All 1,655 zero-dollar notices are retained.

Mapped notices total $2,377,702,113.52. Adding the unmatched notices gives $2,377,943,171.55, matching the saved independent City API aggregate to the cent. That checks the arithmetic; errors in source locations can still affect geography. Shares use the sum assigned to the 22 local areas. Per-hectare values use gross boundary area.

Full notices measure amounts billed, rather than payments received or municipal-only revenue. The export lacks actual account-level tax classes and municipal charges, so we do not estimate a commercial share or separate the effects of density, property values and tax rules. A net subsidy comparison would also require service costs. Accounts can represent strata units, whole rental buildings or commercial properties. The records do not measure residents’ wealth or individual tax burdens.

The municipal rate illustration uses $1.93406 per $1,000 of taxable value for residential property and $7.09436 for business and other, checked October 30, 2026. Taxable value can differ from headline assessed value; relief can change the amount due. Shaughnessy ranks first when full notices are divided by estimated 2021 population, a different comparison from bills per hectare or per account.

The full neighbourhood table, calculation audit and comparison calculations and rate sources are available. Ranks compare all 22 areas, highest first. The population comparison uses spatially apportioned 2021 Census population, not a current headcount. The explorer also contains an October 15 facility inventory. Those are background comparisons, not a current measure of public-service access or spending. The 2020 Downtown profile is used to identify the business district, not to claim a current office-space or employment share. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Vancouver.

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