Cary, NC vs Durham, NC
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Durham spends 48.6% more per capita than Cary ($15,207/person difference). Cary, NC has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (B, 70/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Sales Tax | $493 | $0 |
| Income Tax | $801 | $164 |
| Intergovernmental | $26,541 | $6,775 |
| Charges & Fees | $1,981 | $0 |
| Other | $3,182 | $924 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Police | $0 | $921 |
| Fire Protection | $353 | $682 |
| Highways & Roads | $0 | $461 |
| Education | $0 | $17,100 |
| Public Welfare | $58 | $0 |
| Health | $0 | $517 |
| Hospitals | $322 | $159 |
| Parks & Recreation | $1,581 | $0 |
| Housing | $1,880 | $1,169 |
| Sewerage | $338 | $0 |
| Utilities | $3,759 | $2,350 |
| Interest on Debt | $733 | $32 |
| General Admin | $0 | $43 |
| Other | $7,034 | $7,830 |
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.