The City of Markham

Markham is the largest of the nine municipalities in York Region with a population of approximately 220,000. As with the other Townships, the municipality consists of four main communities with the other three being - Unionville, Milliken and Thornhill.

Similar to the rest of the York Region communities, the city is a growing community with new housing developments and businesses, quality schools, parks and recreational areas.

The City is renowned as the High Tech capital of Canada with corporate head offices such as IBM, Toshiba, Mitsubishi, Nike and American Express, along with many other technology companies. For the full listing and a great local Jobsearching facility check out Corporate Markham.com The municipality is centrally located within the GTA and has great access to major road, rail and air routes. Buttonville airport serves the city with lighter aircraft operating out of it. York Region Transit has routes to and from the city along with the Toronto GO Transit network.

With such a growing population, the Markham area's health needs are met by the York Region Health board. The main local hospital is the Markham Hospital which provides 24/7 emergency cover as well in/out patient care. Depending upon your location in the area, the York Central Hospital may be the closest (located in Richmond Hill) and this too provides 24/7 emergency cover.

The local schools are administered by the York Region School Board (also the Catholic and French Boards linked from the York Region Page.) They provide educational programs for adults as well as the standard schooling for kids.

A great resource if you are moving to the Markham area is the School Newcomers web pages that provide essential advice on what to do.

There are all the modern amenities that a city can offer and these combine to make the city one of the more desireable places to live in Ontario. The 11,600 acre Rouge Valley Park gives great leisure opportunities amongst an urban area.

This is coupled with excellent Recreational Facilities throughout the area. These include full size Ice Rinks that provide all the learn to skate and ice hockey programs, Indoor Swimming Pools and several fully equipped leisure centre's such as Angus Glen, Centennial and Thornhill community centre's. The real estate market is lively with such an affluent population and prices for single family detached homes are above $300,000. Property Taxes for the Markham City area average about 1% of your property assessed value per year. For example if your dwelling is assessed as being worth $250,000 you will pay $2500 for the year in local taxes. This rate is set each year by the council and will vary (normally going up !!). The tax brochure on the taxes page gives all the details of where the money goes.

For more information on the area go to the The City Of Markham Website.