Raleigh, NC vs Durham, NC
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Durham spends 55.5% more per capita than Raleigh ($17,353/person difference). Raleigh, NC has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (B, 76/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Sales Tax | $858 | $0 |
| Income Tax | $806 | $164 |
| Intergovernmental | $14,128 | $6,775 |
| Charges & Fees | $2,681 | $0 |
| Other | $4,740 | $924 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Police | $0 | $921 |
| Fire Protection | $277 | $682 |
| Highways & Roads | $448 | $461 |
| Education | $6 | $17,100 |
| Public Welfare | $498 | $0 |
| Health | $0 | $517 |
| Hospitals | $669 | $159 |
| Parks & Recreation | $1,391 | $0 |
| Housing | $2,712 | $1,169 |
| Sewerage | $281 | $0 |
| Utilities | $2,469 | $2,350 |
| Interest on Debt | $1,513 | $32 |
| General Admin | $0 | $43 |
| Other | $3,646 | $7,830 |
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.