Grand Forks, ND vs Bismarck, ND
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Bismarck spends 55.9% more per capita than Grand Forks ($7,926/person difference). Bismarck, ND has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (C, 60/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Sales Tax | $0 | $998 |
| Income Tax | $0 | $1,341 |
| Intergovernmental | $5,633 | $5,654 |
| Charges & Fees | $0 | $2,652 |
| Other | $625 | $3,626 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Police | $1,224 | $0 |
| Fire Protection | $500 | $663 |
| Highways & Roads | $0 | $123 |
| Public Welfare | $621 | $1,581 |
| Health | $0 | $404 |
| Hospitals | $0 | $26 |
| Parks & Recreation | $0 | $1,065 |
| Housing | $1,057 | $3,590 |
| Sewerage | $0 | $143 |
| Utilities | $1,216 | $2,252 |
| Interest on Debt | $0 | $725 |
| Other | $1,627 | $3,599 |
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.