San Francisco, CA vs San Diego, CA
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
San Francisco spends 325.2% 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 | $148 | $124 |
| Sales Tax | $3,028 | $63 |
| Income Tax | $269 | $194 |
| Intergovernmental | $19,762 | $57 |
| Charges & Fees | $7,961 | $14 |
| Other | $18,918 | $3,801 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Police | $3,351 | $3,335 |
| Fire Protection | $2,281 | $1,278 |
| Highways & Roads | $0 | $1,408 |
| Education | $0 | $2,005 |
| Public Welfare | $2,203 | $700 |
| Health | $1,911 | $411 |
| Hospitals | $6,939 | $0 |
| Parks & Recreation | $4,119 | $436 |
| Housing | $9,315 | $4,476 |
| Sewerage | $1,423 | $43 |
| Utilities | $21,190 | $11,704 |
| Interest on Debt | $22,798 | $0 |
| General Admin | $14,899 | $0 |
| Other | $93,702 | $17,509 |
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.