Lakewood, CO vs Fort Collins, CO
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Fort Collins spends 60.6% more per capita than Lakewood ($15,868/person difference). Lakewood, CO has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (C, 56/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Property Tax | $0 | $620 |
| Sales Tax | $897 | $618 |
| Intergovernmental | $1,276 | $13,229 |
| Charges & Fees | $82 | $2,187 |
| Other | $2,128 | $3,358 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Fire Protection | $205 | $323 |
| Highways & Roads | $0 | $2,411 |
| Education | $0 | $49 |
| Public Welfare | $1,061 | $2,292 |
| Hospitals | $70 | $1,022 |
| Parks & Recreation | $2,250 | $2,355 |
| Housing | $3,750 | $3,104 |
| Sewerage | $176 | $0 |
| Utilities | $79 | $5,637 |
| Interest on Debt | $0 | $3,129 |
| Other | $2,705 | $5,843 |
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.