Birmingham, AL vs Auburn, AL
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Birmingham spends 159.7% more per capita than Auburn ($18,935/person difference). Auburn, AL has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (A, 80/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Property Tax | $44 | $0 |
| Sales Tax | $281 | $22 |
| Income Tax | $0 | $713 |
| Intergovernmental | $468 | $15,016 |
| Charges & Fees | $10,460 | $1,773 |
| Other | $734 | $3,814 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Police | $22 | $0 |
| Fire Protection | $1,152 | $551 |
| Highways & Roads | $848 | $0 |
| Public Welfare | $2,110 | $1,001 |
| Health | $683 | $328 |
| Hospitals | $1,505 | $1,012 |
| Parks & Recreation | $1,823 | $934 |
| Housing | $5,487 | $2,229 |
| Sewerage | $594 | $182 |
| Utilities | $5,451 | $1,765 |
| Other | $11,115 | $3,853 |
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.