Paterson, NJ vs Toms River, NJ
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Paterson spends 62.2% more per capita than Toms River ($6,179/person difference). Toms River, NJ has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (A, 90/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Property Tax | $17 | $2 |
| Sales Tax | $450 | $439 |
| Income Tax | $0 | $26 |
| Intergovernmental | $6,517 | $3,838 |
| Other | $1,614 | $2,872 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Fire Protection | $142 | $277 |
| Highways & Roads | $168 | $0 |
| Public Welfare | $294 | $324 |
| Health | $138 | $0 |
| Hospitals | $2,937 | $0 |
| Parks & Recreation | $349 | $606 |
| Housing | $2,861 | $2,899 |
| Sewerage | $1 | $363 |
| Utilities | $71 | $1,122 |
| Other | $9,148 | $4,339 |
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.