New Bedford, MA vs Lowell, MA
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
New Bedford spends 1.6% more per capita than Lowell ($758/person difference). Lowell, MA has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (C, 50/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Sales Tax | $123 | $639 |
| Income Tax | $5 | $274 |
| Intergovernmental | $7,480 | $4,160 |
| Charges & Fees | $1,982 | $1,061 |
| Other | $4,106 | $2,654 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Fire Protection | $252 | $194 |
| Highways & Roads | $886 | $182 |
| Education | $31,923 | $31,397 |
| Public Welfare | $708 | $349 |
| Health | $255 | $139 |
| Hospitals | $610 | $425 |
| Parks & Recreation | $315 | $292 |
| Housing | $2,315 | $2,733 |
| Sewerage | $99 | $126 |
| Utilities | $887 | $1,234 |
| Other | $10,966 | $11,388 |
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.