El Paso, TX vs Lubbock, TX
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Lubbock, TX spends 35% more per resident than El Paso, TX: $32,743 against $24,259. That gap is large enough to show up across most functional budget categories below.
El Paso, TX edges Lubbock, TX on the Fiscal Health Score by 5 points — 61/100 (grade C) to 56/100 (grade C). At a margin this narrow the grade is close enough that the factor-level detail matters more than the composite.
Neither city reports outstanding debt per resident in its current Census filing, which removes debt service as a point of difference between them. Both cities pour the most per-resident dollars into the same function: police leads in El Paso, TX at $1,159 per resident and in Lubbock, TX at $322.
They also fund themselves differently: intergovernmental transfers is the largest single revenue source in El Paso, TX at 10% of total revenue, whereas Lubbock, TX relies most on other revenue at 25%.
Summary
Lubbock spends 25.9% more per capita than El Paso ($8,484/person difference). El Paso, TX has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (C, 61/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Sales Tax | $65 | $2 |
| Income Tax | $12 | $0 |
| Intergovernmental | $690 | $76 |
| Charges & Fees | $31 | $0 |
| Other | $550 | $781 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Police | $1,159 | $322 |
| Fire Protection | $233 | $173 |
| Highways & Roads | $83 | $296 |
| Public Welfare | $299 | $258 |
| Hospitals | $11 | $0 |
| Parks & Recreation | $151 | $13 |
| Housing | $958 | $2,128 |
| Sewerage | $6 | $0 |
| Utilities | $224 | $45 |
| Interest on Debt | $40 | $0 |
| General Admin | $17,951 | $26,777 |
| Other | $3,145 | $2,732 |
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Source: Census Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances, 2026.