Cary, NC vs Wilmington, NC
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Cary spends 19.4% more per capita than Wilmington ($2,613/person difference). Wilmington, NC has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (A, 90/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Sales Tax | $493 | $689 |
| Income Tax | $801 | $0 |
| Intergovernmental | $26,541 | $2,051 |
| Charges & Fees | $1,981 | $0 |
| Other | $3,182 | $1,201 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Fire Protection | $353 | $305 |
| Highways & Roads | $0 | $269 |
| Public Welfare | $58 | $811 |
| Hospitals | $322 | $1,195 |
| Parks & Recreation | $1,581 | $966 |
| Housing | $1,880 | $3,380 |
| Sewerage | $338 | $88 |
| Utilities | $3,759 | $1,119 |
| Interest on Debt | $733 | $320 |
| Other | $7,034 | $4,991 |
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.