Rochester, NY vs Albany, NY
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Rochester spends 61.3% more per capita than Albany ($28,559/person difference). Albany, NY has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (C, 63/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Sales Tax | $511 | $1,242 |
| Income Tax | $1,427 | $0 |
| Intergovernmental | $3,814 | $3,947 |
| Charges & Fees | $1,993 | $0 |
| Other | $825 | $6,604 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Police | $0 | $3,815 |
| Fire Protection | $293 | $558 |
| Highways & Roads | $379 | $391 |
| Education | $42,739 | $0 |
| Public Welfare | $140 | $1,363 |
| Health | $753 | $91 |
| Hospitals | $764 | $0 |
| Parks & Recreation | $910 | $663 |
| Housing | $5,169 | $2,042 |
| Sewerage | $547 | $0 |
| Utilities | $5,082 | $13,046 |
| Interest on Debt | $215 | $88 |
| Other | $18,162 | $24,538 |
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.