Lawrence, KS vs Wichita, KS
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Lawrence spends 533.2% more per capita than Wichita ($42,585/person difference). Wichita, KS has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (A, 90/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Sales Tax | $452 | $246 |
| Income Tax | $1,646 | $57 |
| Intergovernmental | $610 | $3,895 |
| Charges & Fees | $2,976 | $3,193 |
| Other | $5,396 | $2,783 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Fire Protection | $701 | $152 |
| Highways & Roads | $152 | $126 |
| Education | $50 | $2 |
| Public Welfare | $1,409 | $441 |
| Health | $528 | $254 |
| Hospitals | $201 | $113 |
| Parks & Recreation | $1,334 | $874 |
| Housing | $2,611 | $2,618 |
| Utilities | $3,966 | $1,225 |
| Interest on Debt | $301 | $70 |
| General Admin | $32,300 | $0 |
| Other | $7,016 | $2,111 |
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.