Boston, MA vs Washington, DC
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Washington spends 70.3% more per capita than Boston ($171,042/person difference). Boston, MA has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (C, 56/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Property Tax | $0 | $25 |
| Sales Tax | $78 | $991 |
| Income Tax | $0 | $141 |
| Intergovernmental | $5,357 | $18,754 |
| Charges & Fees | $2,784 | $4,070 |
| Other | $4,557 | $11,518 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Police | $0 | $4,183 |
| Fire Protection | $1,107 | $4,262 |
| Highways & Roads | $594 | $1,435 |
| Education | $30,742 | $53,224 |
| Public Welfare | $1,110 | $2,498 |
| Health | $725 | $1,009 |
| Hospitals | $2,584 | $17,668 |
| Parks & Recreation | $711 | $5,459 |
| Housing | $6,614 | $10,296 |
| Sewerage | $355 | $2,881 |
| Utilities | $3,402 | $88,990 |
| Interest on Debt | $0 | $58 |
| General Admin | $5,401 | $3,225 |
| Other | $18,955 | $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.