Council Bluffs, IA vs Des Moines, IA
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Council Bluffs spends 1257.0% more per capita than Des Moines ($16,361/person difference). Des Moines, IA has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (C, 55/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Sales Tax | $234 | $8 |
| Income Tax | $1,036 | $0 |
| Intergovernmental | $383 | $0 |
| Charges & Fees | $2,374 | $0 |
| Other | $3,427 | $38 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Police | $0 | $134 |
| Fire Protection | $850 | $55 |
| Highways & Roads | $373 | $3 |
| Education | $0 | $1 |
| Public Welfare | $1,494 | $388 |
| Health | $562 | $8 |
| Hospitals | $138 | $0 |
| Parks & Recreation | $1,587 | $0 |
| Housing | $3,385 | $164 |
| Sewerage | $181 | $0 |
| Utilities | $3,119 | $0 |
| Interest on Debt | $278 | $1 |
| Other | $5,695 | $547 |
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.