Harrisburg, PA vs Lancaster, PA
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Lancaster spends 99.9% more per capita than Harrisburg ($51,278/person difference). Harrisburg, PA 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 | $0 | $72 |
| Intergovernmental | -$1,698 | $24,786 |
| Other | $0 | $4,613 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Police | $0 | $5,263 |
| Fire Protection | $0 | $4,067 |
| Highways & Roads | $0 | $500 |
| Public Welfare | $0 | $24 |
| Health | $0 | $417 |
| Hospitals | $73 | $6,387 |
| Parks & Recreation | $0 | $278 |
| Housing | $0 | $2,619 |
| Utilities | $0 | $7,457 |
| Interest on Debt | $0 | $76 |
| Other | $0 | $24,262 |
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.