Buffalo, NY vs Schenectady, NY
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Buffalo spends 35.8% more per capita than Schenectady ($15,895/person difference). Buffalo, NY has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (C, 57/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Sales Tax | $252 | $64 |
| Income Tax | $898 | $26 |
| Intergovernmental | $840 | $12,933 |
| Charges & Fees | $1,679 | $0 |
| Other | $2,952 | $4,840 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Police | $0 | $2,839 |
| Fire Protection | $306 | $406 |
| Highways & Roads | $432 | $440 |
| Education | $39,263 | $0 |
| Public Welfare | $1,112 | $1,436 |
| Health | $0 | $899 |
| Hospitals | $0 | $34 |
| Parks & Recreation | $410 | $122 |
| Housing | $3,491 | $778 |
| Sewerage | $189 | $0 |
| Utilities | $3,425 | $9,610 |
| Interest on Debt | $0 | $47 |
| Other | $11,726 | $27,849 |
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.