Local Government Expenditure Sources - Cities
City governments throughout the United States expend resources for a variety of reasons including utilities, public safety, transportation, education, and various other sources. Depending on specific services offered by the City and the unique regulatory and political environment the specific source of expenditure can vary considerably from government to government. GFOA has prepared the following expenditure dashboards for cities with populations over 10,000 from publicly available United States Census Bureau data.
Major Expenditure Sources for U.S. Cities
The following interactive dashboard shows expenditure sources for all city governments in the United States. The top dashboard shows aggregate expenditures and can be filtered by state or population size. The bottom dashboard can be filtered to highlight any specific state, county, or city.
Source: U.S. Census Data (2017)
For all cities in the U.S., the largest individual expenditure sources are:
1) utilities, 2) public safety, 3) transportation, and 4) education.
Individual expenditure diversification in any one city will vary, and GFOA has noted trends for cities by population size and specific state.
Police Protection Across U.S. Cities
The following interactive dashboard shows police spending as a component of expenditures across all U.S. cities. This dashboard represents the same data, police protection as a percentage of total city expenditure, in two ways: a heat map of the entire country and a distribution graph. This data can be broken down by specific state, county, and population size.
Source: U.S. Census Data (2017)
Expenditure spending on police protection varies greatly across the United States. On average, cities spend 16.6% of their expenditures on police, with most cities spending 15% of total expenditures. Spending between population groups varies slightly but stays within 1 percentage point of the median.
Capital Outlay Across U.S. Cities
The following interactive dashboard shows the capital outlay component of of each expenditure category across all U.S. cities. This dashboard represents the same data, capital outlay as a percentage of total city expenditure, in three ways: a heat map of the entire country, a tile map of individual expenditure categories, and a distribution graph. This data can be broken down by specific state, county, city, and population size.
Source: U.S. Census Data (2017)