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Data from U.S. Census Bureau · 2026 · Methodology
CitySpend

Pittsburgh, PA vs Harrisburg, PA

Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)

Summary

Pittsburgh spends 34644.0% more per capita than Harrisburg ($25,276/person difference). Harrisburg, PA has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (A, 90/100).

Fiscal Health Score

City A
Pittsburgh, PA
Pop. 303,843
B
69/100
Budget Balance36
Debt Burden100
Pension Funding76
Spending Efficiency64
Revenue Diversity100
Trend Direction50
City B
Harrisburg, PA
Pop. 50,055
A
90/100
Budget Balance100
Debt Burden100
Pension Funding76
Spending Efficiency100
Revenue Diversity100
Trend Direction50

Key Metrics

Metric
Pittsburgh
Harrisburg
Total Spending
$7.7B
$3.7M
Spending / Capita
$25,349
$73
Total Revenue
$4.7B
$301.0M
Revenue / Capita
$15,558
$6,013
Total Debt
$0
$0
Debt / Capita
$0
$0
Population
303,843
50,055
Gov Employees / 10K
0.0
0.0
Avg Gov Salary
$0
$0

Per Capita Spending by Department

Fire Protection
Pittsburgh$784
Harrisburg$0
Highways & Roads
Pittsburgh$605
Harrisburg$0
Parks & Recreation
Pittsburgh$399
Harrisburg$0

Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)

PittsburghHarrisburg
Property Tax
$35
$0
Sales Tax
$201
$0
Income Tax
$31
$0
Intergovernmental
$2,136
-$1,698
Other
$1,184
$0

Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)

PittsburghHarrisburg
Fire Protection
$784
$0
Highways & Roads
$605
$0
Public Welfare
$4,568
$0
Hospitals
$214
$73
Parks & Recreation
$399
$0
Housing
$4,276
$0
Sewerage
$248
$0
Utilities
$690
$0
Other
$13,566
$0
B
Pittsburgh, PA
Fiscal Health Score: 69/100
Good fiscal health
A
Harrisburg, PA
Fiscal Health Score: 90/100
Excellent fiscal health

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.