Long Beach, CA vs El Paso, TX
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Long Beach, CA spends 41% more per resident than El Paso, TX: $34,250 against $24,259. That gap is large enough to show up across most functional budget categories below.
Long Beach, CA edges El Paso, TX on the Fiscal Health Score by 6 points — 67/100 (grade B) to 61/100 (grade C). At a margin this narrow the grade is close enough that the factor-level detail matters more than the composite.
Neither city reports outstanding debt per resident in its current Census filing, which removes debt service as a point of difference between them. Their budgets diverge on where the largest per-resident dollars go: Long Beach, CA leads with parks and recreation at $698 per resident, while El Paso, TX leads with police at $1,159.
They also fund themselves differently: other revenue is the largest single revenue source in Long Beach, CA at 12% of total revenue, whereas El Paso, TX relies most on intergovernmental transfers at 10%.
Summary
Long Beach spends 41.2% more per capita than El Paso ($9,991/person difference). Long Beach, CA has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (B, 67/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Sales Tax | $36 | $65 |
| Income Tax | $1,760 | $12 |
| Intergovernmental | $1,688 | $690 |
| Charges & Fees | $2,424 | $31 |
| Other | $8,836 | $550 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Police | $0 | $1,159 |
| Fire Protection | $0 | $233 |
| Highways & Roads | $0 | $83 |
| Public Welfare | $1,317 | $299 |
| Health | $477 | $0 |
| Hospitals | $2,751 | $11 |
| Parks & Recreation | $698 | $151 |
| Housing | $5,782 | $958 |
| Sewerage | $86 | $6 |
| Utilities | $3,889 | $224 |
| Interest on Debt | $2,718 | $40 |
| General Admin | $0 | $17,951 |
| Other | $16,533 | $3,145 |
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Source: Census Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances, 2026.