Santa Fe, NM vs Las Cruces, NM
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Las Cruces spends 10.0% more per capita than Santa Fe ($1,471/person difference). Santa Fe, NM has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (A, 89/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Income Tax | $0 | $1,620 |
| Intergovernmental | $1,422 | $4,988 |
| Charges & Fees | $0 | $1,956 |
| Other | $2,563 | $2,152 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Police | $2,014 | $0 |
| Fire Protection | $69 | $532 |
| Highways & Roads | $0 | $103 |
| Public Welfare | $611 | $0 |
| Health | $0 | $7 |
| Hospitals | $548 | $147 |
| Parks & Recreation | $386 | $1,345 |
| Housing | $1,643 | $3,118 |
| Utilities | $882 | $3,961 |
| Interest on Debt | $0 | $1,024 |
| General Admin | $570 | $0 |
| Other | $6,513 | $4,470 |
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.