Chattanooga, TN vs Johnson City, TN
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Johnson City spends 18.6% more per capita than Chattanooga ($5,509/person difference). Chattanooga, TN has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (B, 78/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Sales Tax | $82 | $228 |
| Income Tax | $301 | $2,303 |
| Intergovernmental | $597 | $21,169 |
| Charges & Fees | $0 | $3,131 |
| Other | $13,286 | $3,770 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Fire Protection | $1,061 | $304 |
| Highways & Roads | $212 | $192 |
| Education | $0 | $14,043 |
| Public Welfare | $895 | $2,007 |
| Health | $436 | $322 |
| Hospitals | $697 | $92 |
| Parks & Recreation | $1,596 | $1,227 |
| Housing | $4,908 | $2,442 |
| Sewerage | $175 | $0 |
| Utilities | $1,629 | $3,744 |
| Interest on Debt | $2,068 | $628 |
| Other | $10,474 | $4,657 |
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.