San Diego, CA vs San Francisco, CA
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
San Francisco spends 76.5% more per capita than San Diego ($140,825/person difference). San Diego, CA has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (C, 53/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Property Tax | $124 | $148 |
| Sales Tax | $63 | $3,028 |
| Income Tax | $194 | $269 |
| Intergovernmental | $57 | $19,762 |
| Charges & Fees | $14 | $7,961 |
| Other | $3,801 | $18,918 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Police | $3,335 | $3,351 |
| Fire Protection | $1,278 | $2,281 |
| Highways & Roads | $1,408 | $0 |
| Education | $2,005 | $0 |
| Public Welfare | $700 | $2,203 |
| Health | $411 | $1,911 |
| Hospitals | $0 | $6,939 |
| Parks & Recreation | $436 | $4,119 |
| Housing | $4,476 | $9,315 |
| Sewerage | $43 | $1,423 |
| Utilities | $11,704 | $21,190 |
| Interest on Debt | $0 | $22,798 |
| General Admin | $0 | $14,899 |
| Other | $17,509 | $93,702 |
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.