Mesa, AZ vs Seattle, WA
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Seattle spends 63.0% more per capita than Mesa ($21,694/person difference). Mesa, AZ has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (A, 90/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Property Tax | $47 | $1,831 |
| Sales Tax | $463 | $1,094 |
| Income Tax | $1,376 | $3,496 |
| Intergovernmental | $1,383 | $9,846 |
| Charges & Fees | $3,334 | $3,960 |
| Other | $2,253 | $8,544 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Fire Protection | $422 | $210 |
| Highways & Roads | $192 | $0 |
| Education | $0 | $1,461 |
| Public Welfare | $829 | $3,439 |
| Health | $147 | $1,131 |
| Hospitals | $537 | $1,871 |
| Parks & Recreation | $953 | $3,923 |
| Housing | $4,190 | $3,727 |
| Sewerage | $38 | $952 |
| Utilities | $2,376 | $6,489 |
| Other | $3,082 | $11,260 |
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.