Houston, TX vs Indianapolis city (balance), IN
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Indianapolis city (balance) spends 68.7% more per capita than Houston ($31,645/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 | $20 |
| Sales Tax | $181 | $178 |
| Income Tax | $39 | $136 |
| Intergovernmental | $33 | $1,312 |
| Charges & Fees | $3,475 | $2,813 |
| Other | $3,960 | $4,675 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Police | $0 | $2,032 |
| Fire Protection | $295 | $397 |
| Highways & Roads | $175 | $0 |
| Public Welfare | $533 | $1,469 |
| Health | $210 | $0 |
| Hospitals | $511 | $2,453 |
| Parks & Recreation | $361 | $798 |
| Housing | $4,288 | $2,664 |
| Sewerage | $386 | $248 |
| Utilities | $1,339 | $2,227 |
| Interest on Debt | $0 | $1,381 |
| General Admin | $0 | $23,227 |
| Other | $6,301 | $9,149 |
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.