Local Government Expenditure Sources - Counties
County 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 County 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 counties with populations over 10,000 from publicly available United States Census Bureau data.
Major Expenditure Sources for U.S. Counties
The following interactive dashboard shows expenditure sources for all county 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 or county.
Source: U.S. Census Data (2017)
For all counties in the U.S., the largest individual expenditure sources are 1) public safety, 2) education, 3) hospitals, and 4) welfare.
Individual expenditure diversification in any one county will vary, and GFOA has noted trends for counties by population size and specific state.
Police Protection Across U.S. Counties
The following interactive dashboard shows police spending as a component of expenditures across all U.S. counties. This dashboard represents the same data, police protection as a percentage of total county expenditure, in two ways: a heat map of the entire country and a distribution graph. This data can be broken down by specific state and population size.
Source: U.S. Census Data (2017)
Expenditure spending on police protection varies greatly across the United States. On average, counties spend 11% of their expenditures on police, with most counties spending around 7% of total expenditures. Spending between population groups vary as much as 5 percentage points from the median.
Capital Outlay Across U.S. Counties
The following interactive dashboard shows the capital outlay component of of each expenditure category across all U.S. counties. 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)