Birmingham, AL vs Decatur, AL
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Birmingham spends 79.2% more per capita than Decatur ($13,605/person difference). Birmingham, AL has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (C, 55/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Property Tax | $44 | $855 |
| Sales Tax | $281 | $975 |
| Income Tax | $0 | $1,360 |
| Intergovernmental | $468 | $37,427 |
| Charges & Fees | $10,460 | $2,804 |
| Other | $734 | $4,387 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Police | $22 | $0 |
| Fire Protection | $1,152 | $254 |
| Highways & Roads | $848 | $95 |
| Education | $0 | $43 |
| Public Welfare | $2,110 | $1,023 |
| Health | $683 | $66 |
| Hospitals | $1,505 | $1,729 |
| Parks & Recreation | $1,823 | $2,612 |
| Housing | $5,487 | $2,549 |
| Sewerage | $594 | $164 |
| Utilities | $5,451 | $3,362 |
| Other | $11,115 | $5,289 |
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.