San Diego, CA vs Las Vegas, NV
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
San Diego spends 376.7% more per capita than Las Vegas ($34,221/person difference). Las Vegas, NV has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (A, 82/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Property Tax | $124 | $50 |
| Sales Tax | $63 | $386 |
| Income Tax | $194 | $0 |
| Intergovernmental | $57 | $1,137 |
| Charges & Fees | $14 | $0 |
| Other | $3,801 | $2,806 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Police | $3,335 | $945 |
| Fire Protection | $1,278 | $280 |
| Highways & Roads | $1,408 | $45 |
| Education | $2,005 | $0 |
| Public Welfare | $700 | $705 |
| Health | $411 | $0 |
| Hospitals | $0 | $356 |
| Parks & Recreation | $436 | $1,028 |
| Housing | $4,476 | $23 |
| Sewerage | $43 | $332 |
| Utilities | $11,704 | $129 |
| Other | $17,509 | $5,243 |
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.