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Data from U.S. Census Bureau · 2026 · Methodology
CitySpend

Huntsville, AL vs Madison, AL

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

Summary

Madison spends 38.4% more per capita than Huntsville ($9,983/person difference). Huntsville, AL has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (C, 58/100).

Fiscal Health Score

City A
Huntsville, AL
Pop. 215,025
C
58/100
Budget Balance62
Debt Burden0
Pension Funding76
Spending Efficiency85
Revenue Diversity100
Trend Direction50
City B
Madison, AL
Pop. 56,967
D
44/100
Budget Balance7
Debt Burden100
Pension Funding76
Spending Efficiency11
Revenue Diversity0
Trend Direction50

Key Metrics

Metric
Huntsville
Madison
Total Spending
$3.4B
$1.5B
Spending / Capita
$16,033
$26,015
Total Revenue
$9.5B
$494.6M
Revenue / Capita
$44,087
$8,683
Total Debt
$275.0M
$0
Debt / Capita
$1,279
$0
Population
215,025
56,967
Gov Employees / 10K
0.0
0.0
Avg Gov Salary
$0
$0

Per Capita Spending by Department

Police
Huntsville$0
Madison$2,061
Fire Protection
Huntsville$637
Madison$2,129
Parks & Recreation
Huntsville$1,600
Madison$799
Education
Huntsville$60
Madison$0
Health
Huntsville$354
Madison$0

Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)

HuntsvilleMadison
Property Tax
$0
$73
Sales Tax
$833
$107
Income Tax
$656
$2,566
Intergovernmental
$4,511
$8,683
Charges & Fees
$2,558
$3,300
Other
$2,647
$4,323

Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)

HuntsvilleMadison
Police
$0
$2,061
Fire Protection
$637
$2,129
Education
$60
$0
Public Welfare
$708
$5,542
Health
$354
$0
Hospitals
$692
$0
Parks & Recreation
$1,600
$799
Housing
$2,611
$5,194
Sewerage
$136
$0
Utilities
$2,983
$3,593
Other
$6,253
$6,698
C
Huntsville, AL
Fiscal Health Score: 58/100
Average fiscal health
D
Madison, AL
Fiscal Health Score: 44/100
Below average 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.