Jersey City, NJ vs Paterson, NJ
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Jersey City spends 31.2% more per capita than Paterson ($5,026/person difference). Jersey City, NJ has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (B, 70/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Property Tax | $0 | $17 |
| Sales Tax | $420 | $450 |
| Income Tax | $603 | $0 |
| Intergovernmental | $4,168 | $6,517 |
| Charges & Fees | $2,474 | $0 |
| Other | $3,297 | $1,614 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Fire Protection | $275 | $142 |
| Highways & Roads | $173 | $168 |
| Public Welfare | $953 | $294 |
| Health | $634 | $138 |
| Hospitals | $3,827 | $2,937 |
| Parks & Recreation | $248 | $349 |
| Housing | $4,412 | $2,861 |
| Sewerage | $155 | $1 |
| Utilities | $3,426 | $71 |
| Other | $7,033 | $9,148 |
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.