Skip to main content
Data from U.S. Census Bureau · 2026 · Methodology
CitySpend

Great Falls, MT vs Billings, MT

Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)

Summary

Billings spends 30.8% more per capita than Great Falls ($3,844/person difference). Billings, MT has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (B, 67/100).

Fiscal Health Score

City A
Great Falls, MT
Pop. 60,373
C
54/100
Budget Balance74
Debt Burden0
Pension Funding76
Spending Efficiency100
Revenue Diversity0
Trend Direction50
City B
Billings, MT
Pop. 117,093
B
67/100
Budget Balance78
Debt Burden11
Pension Funding76
Spending Efficiency100
Revenue Diversity100
Trend Direction50

Key Metrics

Metric
Great Falls
Billings
Total Spending
$522.6M
$1.5B
Spending / Capita
$8,656
$12,501
Total Revenue
$652.9M
$1.8B
Revenue / Capita
$10,814
$15,768
Total Debt
$90.0M
$135.6M
Debt / Capita
$1,490
$1,158
Population
60,373
117,093
Gov Employees / 10K
0.0
0.0
Avg Gov Salary
$0
$0

Per Capita Spending by Department

Fire Protection
Great Falls$251
Billings$145
Parks & Recreation
Great Falls$1,064
Billings$883
Health
Great Falls$229
Billings$330

Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)

Great FallsBillings
Property Tax
$48
$787
Sales Tax
$595
$251
Income Tax
$882
$1,706
Intergovernmental
$10,814
$1,539
Charges & Fees
$2,342
$2,714
Other
$2,571
$2,720

Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)

Great FallsBillings
Fire Protection
$251
$145
Public Welfare
$755
$1,929
Health
$229
$330
Hospitals
$525
$105
Parks & Recreation
$1,064
$883
Housing
$1,988
$2,463
Sewerage
$0
$195
Utilities
$1,755
$2,914
Interest on Debt
$0
$535
Other
$2,089
$3,002
C
Great Falls, MT
Fiscal Health Score: 54/100
Average fiscal health
B
Billings, MT
Fiscal Health Score: 67/100
Good fiscal health

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.