Portland, OR vs Fort Worth, TX
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Portland, OR spends 49% more per resident than Fort Worth, TX: $23,675 against $15,939. That gap is large enough to show up across most functional budget categories below.
On the CitySpend Fiscal Health Score the two are level: Portland, OR and Fort Worth, TX both land at 63/100 (grade C and C respectively), so the deciding factors sit in the underlying six-factor breakdown rather than the rolled-up grade.
On debt, Portland, OR carries the lighter load at $1,574 per resident versus $1,921 for Fort Worth, TX. Both cities pour the most per-resident dollars into the same function: parks and recreation leads in Portland, OR at $2,477 per resident and in Fort Worth, TX at $708.
On the revenue side both lean hardest on intergovernmental transfers — 19% of total revenue in Portland, OR and 15% in Fort Worth, TX.
Summary
Portland spends 48.5% more per capita than Fort Worth ($7,735/person difference). Both cities share the same Fiscal Health Score.
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Sales Tax | $1,695 | $198 |
| Income Tax | $130 | $851 |
| Intergovernmental | $8,979 | $4,002 |
| Charges & Fees | $3,883 | $3,594 |
| Other | $7,916 | $3,439 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Fire Protection | $1,700 | $156 |
| Highways & Roads | $139 | $317 |
| Public Welfare | $3,607 | $869 |
| Health | $0 | $235 |
| Hospitals | $2,893 | $1,680 |
| Parks & Recreation | $2,477 | $708 |
| Housing | $3,694 | $4,217 |
| Sewerage | $630 | $267 |
| Utilities | $1,845 | $2,674 |
| Other | $6,689 | $4,817 |
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Source: Census Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances, 2026.