Roanoke, VA vs Portsmouth, VA
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Portsmouth spends 17.5% more per capita than Roanoke ($8,191/person difference). Portsmouth, VA has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (B, 75/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Sales Tax | $472 | $291 |
| Income Tax | $386 | $2,119 |
| Intergovernmental | $1,358 | $12 |
| Charges & Fees | $0 | $2,606 |
| Other | $2,424 | $2,972 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Police | $1,543 | $1,848 |
| Fire Protection | $235 | $450 |
| Highways & Roads | $1,357 | $954 |
| Education | $18,609 | $20,569 |
| Public Welfare | $0 | $1,406 |
| Health | $573 | $270 |
| Hospitals | $511 | $3,784 |
| Parks & Recreation | $950 | $1,573 |
| Housing | $2,054 | $3,282 |
| Sewerage | $112 | $298 |
| Utilities | $3,633 | $4,446 |
| Interest on Debt | $0 | $63 |
| Other | $8,936 | $7,760 |
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.