Nashville-Davidson metropolitan government (balance), TN vs Chattanooga, TN
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Nashville-Davidson metropolitan government (balance) spends 102.7% more per capita than Chattanooga ($24,798/person difference). Chattanooga, TN has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (B, 78/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Sales Tax | $373 | $82 |
| Income Tax | $135 | $301 |
| Intergovernmental | $13,787 | $597 |
| Charges & Fees | $2,444 | $0 |
| Other | $4,617 | $13,286 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Police | $1,519 | $0 |
| Fire Protection | $468 | $1,061 |
| Highways & Roads | $11 | $212 |
| Education | $21,061 | $0 |
| Public Welfare | $738 | $895 |
| Health | $672 | $436 |
| Hospitals | $2,100 | $697 |
| Parks & Recreation | $1,015 | $1,596 |
| Housing | $4,231 | $4,908 |
| Sewerage | $217 | $175 |
| Utilities | $3,140 | $1,629 |
| Interest on Debt | $1,667 | $2,068 |
| General Admin | $2,081 | $0 |
| Other | $10,028 | $10,474 |
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.