New Haven, CT vs Waterbury, CT
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
New Haven spends 20.0% more per capita than Waterbury ($11,084/person difference). New Haven, CT has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (C, 54/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Sales Tax | $1,927 | $251 |
| Income Tax | $999 | $3 |
| Intergovernmental | $53,739 | $42,242 |
| Charges & Fees | $0 | $1,249 |
| Other | $431 | $2,485 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Fire Protection | $2,676 | $2,439 |
| Education | $33,075 | $33,920 |
| Public Welfare | $2,189 | $1,768 |
| Health | $286 | $173 |
| Hospitals | $1,047 | $313 |
| Parks & Recreation | $98 | $161 |
| Housing | $3,394 | $3,627 |
| Sewerage | $71 | $74 |
| Utilities | $967 | $869 |
| Other | $22,708 | $12,083 |
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.