Boston, MA vs Raleigh, NC
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Boston spends 419.7% more per capita than Raleigh ($58,388/person difference). Raleigh, NC has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (B, 76/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Sales Tax | $78 | $858 |
| Income Tax | $0 | $806 |
| Intergovernmental | $5,357 | $14,128 |
| Charges & Fees | $2,784 | $2,681 |
| Other | $4,557 | $4,740 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Fire Protection | $1,107 | $277 |
| Highways & Roads | $594 | $448 |
| Education | $30,742 | $6 |
| Public Welfare | $1,110 | $498 |
| Health | $725 | $0 |
| Hospitals | $2,584 | $669 |
| Parks & Recreation | $711 | $1,391 |
| Housing | $6,614 | $2,712 |
| Sewerage | $355 | $281 |
| Utilities | $3,402 | $2,469 |
| Interest on Debt | $0 | $1,513 |
| General Admin | $5,401 | $0 |
| Other | $18,955 | $3,646 |
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.