Richmond, VA vs Virginia Beach, VA
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Richmond spends 45.0% more per capita than Virginia Beach ($19,146/person difference). Virginia Beach, VA has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (D, 47/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Sales Tax | $930 | $673 |
| Income Tax | $879 | $831 |
| Intergovernmental | $3,985 | $31,808 |
| Charges & Fees | $3,949 | $1,462 |
| Other | $7,690 | $3,301 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Police | $2,108 | $1,126 |
| Fire Protection | $921 | $512 |
| Highways & Roads | $738 | $0 |
| Education | $20,033 | $21,342 |
| Public Welfare | $1,535 | $2,071 |
| Health | $341 | $426 |
| Hospitals | $3,770 | $1,036 |
| Parks & Recreation | $1,154 | $1,574 |
| Housing | $5,951 | $2,788 |
| Sewerage | $17 | $140 |
| Utilities | $7,265 | $3,523 |
| Interest on Debt | $3,048 | $0 |
| Other | $14,781 | $7,978 |
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.