Sterling Heights, MI vs Dearborn, MI
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Dearborn spends 27.3% more per capita than Sterling Heights ($4,723/person difference). Sterling Heights, MI has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (B, 75/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Sales Tax | $0 | $756 |
| Intergovernmental | $17,646 | $23,576 |
| Charges & Fees | $1,696 | $2,326 |
| Other | $3,682 | $3,543 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Fire Protection | $1,634 | $1,938 |
| Highways & Roads | $185 | $21 |
| Public Welfare | $761 | $1,485 |
| Health | $656 | $492 |
| Hospitals | $66 | $222 |
| Parks & Recreation | $11 | $1,639 |
| Housing | $2,747 | $3,896 |
| Sewerage | $159 | $219 |
| Utilities | $2,756 | $1,958 |
| Interest on Debt | $0 | $35 |
| Other | $3,575 | $5,368 |
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.