San Francisco, CA vs Los Angeles, CA
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
San Francisco spends 115.5% more per capita than Los Angeles ($98,699/person difference). San Francisco, CA has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (D, 48/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Property Tax | $148 | $64 |
| Sales Tax | $3,028 | $77 |
| Income Tax | $269 | $307 |
| Intergovernmental | $19,762 | $134 |
| Charges & Fees | $7,961 | $459 |
| Other | $18,918 | $9,048 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Police | $3,351 | $4,111 |
| Fire Protection | $2,281 | $1,057 |
| Highways & Roads | $0 | $503 |
| Education | $0 | $829 |
| Public Welfare | $2,203 | $1,286 |
| Health | $1,911 | $409 |
| Hospitals | $6,939 | $2,135 |
| Parks & Recreation | $4,119 | $1,347 |
| Housing | $9,315 | $6,325 |
| Sewerage | $1,423 | $34 |
| Utilities | $21,190 | $21,992 |
| Interest on Debt | $22,798 | $630 |
| General Admin | $14,899 | $11,586 |
| Other | $93,702 | $33,189 |
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.