Denver, CO vs Thornton, CO
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Denver spends 132.2% more per capita than Thornton ($19,121/person difference). Thornton, CO has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (C, 54/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Sales Tax | $2,070 | $530 |
| Income Tax | $236 | $420 |
| Intergovernmental | $44,661 | $17,658 |
| Charges & Fees | $5,207 | $4,216 |
| Other | $10,100 | $1,541 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Police | $2,455 | $0 |
| Fire Protection | $1,668 | $427 |
| Highways & Roads | $475 | $411 |
| Education | $821 | $0 |
| Public Welfare | $764 | $899 |
| Health | $693 | $0 |
| Hospitals | $2,855 | $173 |
| Parks & Recreation | $3,319 | $1,969 |
| Housing | $3,565 | $3,363 |
| Sewerage | $293 | $159 |
| Utilities | $4,292 | $3,118 |
| Interest on Debt | $7 | $0 |
| General Admin | $364 | $0 |
| Other | $12,011 | $3,943 |
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.