Albany, NY vs Buffalo, NY
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Buffalo spends 22.8% more per capita than Albany ($13,759/person difference). Albany, NY has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (C, 63/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Sales Tax | $1,242 | $252 |
| Income Tax | $0 | $898 |
| Intergovernmental | $3,947 | $840 |
| Charges & Fees | $0 | $1,679 |
| Other | $6,604 | $2,952 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Police | $3,815 | $0 |
| Fire Protection | $558 | $306 |
| Highways & Roads | $391 | $432 |
| Education | $0 | $39,263 |
| Public Welfare | $1,363 | $1,112 |
| Health | $91 | $0 |
| Parks & Recreation | $663 | $410 |
| Housing | $2,042 | $3,491 |
| Sewerage | $0 | $189 |
| Utilities | $13,046 | $3,425 |
| Interest on Debt | $88 | $0 |
| Other | $24,538 | $11,726 |
Compare More Cities
The side-by-side above pulls the the Census Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances data for both entity A and entity B. What follows is the interpretation — which specific axes carry the most weight for entity A versus entity B, and which differences are large enough to influence a real decision.
Practical use of the comparison: read the data above, then drill into the individual entity A and entity B detail pages for the underlying breakdown. A pairwise comparison answers the relative question; the per-entity pages answer the absolute question.
Source: Census Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances, 2026.