Columbia, MO vs Springfield, MO
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Springfield spends 12.4% more per capita than Columbia ($1,946/person difference). Springfield, MO has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (A, 82/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Sales Tax | $668 | $827 |
| Income Tax | $2,110 | $822 |
| Intergovernmental | $23,577 | $1,035 |
| Charges & Fees | $2,293 | $3,451 |
| Other | $2,632 | $4,051 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Fire Protection | $355 | $68 |
| Highways & Roads | $0 | $487 |
| Education | $0 | $1,123 |
| Public Welfare | $901 | $932 |
| Hospitals | $77 | $311 |
| Parks & Recreation | $1,099 | $2,552 |
| Housing | $1,692 | $2,768 |
| Sewerage | $0 | $206 |
| Utilities | $3,124 | $2,850 |
| Interest on Debt | $419 | $805 |
| Other | $6,091 | $3,601 |
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.