Arlington, TX vs Washington, DC
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Washington spends 95.2% more per capita than Arlington ($231,572/person difference). Arlington, TX has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (A, 83/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Property Tax | $0 | $25 |
| Sales Tax | $507 | $991 |
| Income Tax | $73 | $141 |
| Intergovernmental | $25,062 | $18,754 |
| Charges & Fees | $2,949 | $4,070 |
| Other | $3,897 | $11,518 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Police | $0 | $4,183 |
| Fire Protection | $160 | $4,262 |
| Highways & Roads | $149 | $1,435 |
| Education | $0 | $53,224 |
| Public Welfare | $826 | $2,498 |
| Health | $219 | $1,009 |
| Hospitals | $152 | $17,668 |
| Parks & Recreation | $1,352 | $5,459 |
| Housing | $2,981 | $10,296 |
| Sewerage | $141 | $2,881 |
| Utilities | $1,385 | $88,990 |
| Interest on Debt | $0 | $58 |
| General Admin | $0 | $3,225 |
| Other | $4,404 | $48,155 |
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.