Newport News, VA vs Portsmouth, VA
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Newport News spends 21.9% more per capita than Portsmouth ($10,244/person difference). Portsmouth, VA has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (B, 75/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Sales Tax | $382 | $291 |
| Income Tax | $820 | $2,119 |
| Intergovernmental | $899 | $12 |
| Charges & Fees | $5,701 | $2,606 |
| Other | $4,722 | $2,972 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Police | $1,848 | $1,848 |
| Fire Protection | $658 | $450 |
| Highways & Roads | $702 | $954 |
| Education | $23,175 | $20,569 |
| Public Welfare | $1,145 | $1,406 |
| Health | $377 | $270 |
| Hospitals | $2,755 | $3,784 |
| Parks & Recreation | $2,102 | $1,573 |
| Housing | $4,827 | $3,282 |
| Sewerage | $219 | $298 |
| Utilities | $7,332 | $4,446 |
| Interest on Debt | $0 | $63 |
| Other | $11,810 | $7,760 |
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.