Elgin, IL vs Waukegan, IL
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Elgin spends 10.2% more per capita than Waukegan ($1,315/person difference). Waukegan, IL has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (A, 90/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Sales Tax | $754 | $32 |
| Income Tax | $651 | $0 |
| Intergovernmental | $1,170 | $4,312 |
| Charges & Fees | $2,267 | $1,728 |
| Other | $1,754 | $1,050 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Fire Protection | $222 | $0 |
| Highways & Roads | $116 | $0 |
| Education | $53 | $0 |
| Public Welfare | $718 | $984 |
| Health | $0 | $458 |
| Hospitals | $0 | $377 |
| Parks & Recreation | $1,641 | $118 |
| Housing | $4,472 | $5,135 |
| Sewerage | $0 | $311 |
| Utilities | $2,850 | $1,645 |
| Other | $4,159 | $3,888 |
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.