New York, NY vs Boston, MA
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
New York spends 78.6% more per capita than Boston ($56,821/person difference). New York, NY has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (C, 64/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Property Tax | $5 | $0 |
| Sales Tax | $399 | $78 |
| Income Tax | $19 | $0 |
| Intergovernmental | $20,520 | $5,357 |
| Charges & Fees | $1,835 | $2,784 |
| Other | $3,593 | $4,557 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Police | $1,512 | $0 |
| Fire Protection | $11,050 | $1,107 |
| Highways & Roads | $221 | $594 |
| Education | $37,892 | $30,742 |
| Public Welfare | $1,116 | $1,110 |
| Health | $417 | $725 |
| Hospitals | $6,467 | $2,584 |
| Parks & Recreation | $868 | $711 |
| Housing | $7,137 | $6,614 |
| Sewerage | $315 | $355 |
| Utilities | $13,371 | $3,402 |
| Interest on Debt | $11,706 | $0 |
| General Admin | $11,668 | $5,401 |
| Other | $25,380 | $18,955 |
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.