Des Moines, IA vs Council Bluffs, IA
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Council Bluffs spends 92.6% 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 | $8 | $234 |
| Income Tax | $0 | $1,036 |
| Intergovernmental | $0 | $383 |
| Charges & Fees | $0 | $2,374 |
| Other | $38 | $3,427 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Police | $134 | $0 |
| Fire Protection | $55 | $850 |
| Highways & Roads | $3 | $373 |
| Education | $1 | $0 |
| Public Welfare | $388 | $1,494 |
| Health | $8 | $562 |
| Hospitals | $0 | $138 |
| Parks & Recreation | $0 | $1,587 |
| Housing | $164 | $3,385 |
| Sewerage | $0 | $181 |
| Utilities | $0 | $3,119 |
| Interest on Debt | $1 | $278 |
| Other | $547 | $5,695 |
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.