Iowa City, IA vs Ames, IA
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Ames spends 63.4% more per capita than Iowa City ($28,466/person difference). Iowa City, IA has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (C, 62/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Property Tax | $14 | $5 |
| Sales Tax | $833 | $413 |
| Income Tax | $1,549 | $648 |
| Intergovernmental | $1,216 | $3,359 |
| Charges & Fees | $1,499 | $1,979 |
| Other | $2,188 | $2,187 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Fire Protection | $461 | $155 |
| Highways & Roads | $112 | $61 |
| Education | $57 | $41 |
| Public Welfare | $1,285 | $3,950 |
| Health | $965 | $765 |
| Hospitals | $2,408 | $83 |
| Parks & Recreation | $1,165 | $648 |
| Housing | $1,963 | $1,535 |
| Sewerage | $270 | $268 |
| Utilities | $2,351 | $2,103 |
| Interest on Debt | $1,144 | $1,924 |
| General Admin | $0 | $30,834 |
| Other | $4,268 | $2,548 |
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.