Display omitted •The PZT:RE3+ ceramic was prepared via solid state reaction method.•RE3+-doped ceramic exhibits high dispersions in dielectric permittivity.•Rare earth metals in PZT solid solution reduces the phase transition up to 30 °C. PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3 with simultaneous addition of (RE3+:La3+, Nd3+, Dy3+) synthesized by conventional solid state reaction technique. The effect of La, Nd and Dy addition on structural, electrical and optical properties of PZT ceramic are investigated. Powder X-ray diffraction pattern shows that the pure perovskite structure and rare earth element completely diffused into the PZT lattice during sintering. Scanning electron microscope observation indicates that a small amount of La3+, Nd3+, Dy3+ ions does not affect the microstructure. Temperature and frequency dependent dielectric properties of rare earth doped PZT ceramic are investigated. The local micro structural heterogeneity has been induced to PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3: (RE3+: La3+, Nd3+, Dy3+) which is studied by Raman spectroscopy. The rare earth doped PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3 ceramics have sensitive phase transition behavior from 275 to 310 °C. The impedance spectroscopic studies show that oxygen vacancies role in ionic conduction of rare earth ions doped PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3 ceramics for different temperature. The PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3:Nd3+ composition has formidable structural and electrical properties of low conductivity (~10–3 S/m) and low transition temperature (275 °C). At room temperature, this composition exhibits a high piezoelectric coefficient of (d33 = 149pC/N). The PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3:RE3+ ceramics exhibits good thermal stability up to 400 °C that assure for high temperature piezoelectric applications.