Decatur, AL vs Birmingham, AL
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Birmingham spends 44.2% more per capita than Decatur ($13,605/person difference). Birmingham, AL has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (C, 55/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Property Tax | $855 | $44 |
| Sales Tax | $975 | $281 |
| Income Tax | $1,360 | $0 |
| Intergovernmental | $37,427 | $468 |
| Charges & Fees | $2,804 | $10,460 |
| Other | $4,387 | $734 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Police | $0 | $22 |
| Fire Protection | $254 | $1,152 |
| Highways & Roads | $95 | $848 |
| Education | $43 | $0 |
| Public Welfare | $1,023 | $2,110 |
| Health | $66 | $683 |
| Hospitals | $1,729 | $1,505 |
| Parks & Recreation | $2,612 | $1,823 |
| Housing | $2,549 | $5,487 |
| Sewerage | $164 | $594 |
| Utilities | $3,362 | $5,451 |
| Other | $5,289 | $11,115 |
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.