Charlotte, NC vs Durham, NC
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Durham spends 49.3% more per capita than Charlotte ($15,411/person difference). Durham, NC has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (B, 66/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Sales Tax | $541 | $0 |
| Income Tax | $366 | $164 |
| Intergovernmental | $1,859 | $6,775 |
| Charges & Fees | $2,459 | $0 |
| Other | $4,866 | $924 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Police | $0 | $921 |
| Fire Protection | $463 | $682 |
| Highways & Roads | $41 | $461 |
| Education | $0 | $17,100 |
| Public Welfare | $672 | $0 |
| Health | $0 | $517 |
| Hospitals | $1,243 | $159 |
| Parks & Recreation | $1,571 | $0 |
| Housing | $3,944 | $1,169 |
| Utilities | $2,244 | $2,350 |
| Interest on Debt | $2,226 | $32 |
| General Admin | $0 | $43 |
| Other | $3,448 | $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.