Houston, TX vs Chicago, IL
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Chicago spends 58.3% more per capita than Houston ($20,152/person difference). Houston, TX has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (A, 83/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Property Tax | $0 | $26 |
| Sales Tax | $181 | $74 |
| Income Tax | $39 | $229 |
| Intergovernmental | $33 | $85,083 |
| Charges & Fees | $3,475 | $2,847 |
| Other | $3,960 | $3,463 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Fire Protection | $295 | $10,754 |
| Highways & Roads | $175 | $930 |
| Public Welfare | $533 | $1,858 |
| Health | $210 | $426 |
| Hospitals | $511 | $1,444 |
| Parks & Recreation | $361 | $122 |
| Housing | $4,288 | $6,520 |
| Sewerage | $386 | $129 |
| Utilities | $1,339 | $2,983 |
| Other | $6,301 | $9,385 |
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.