Tacoma, WA vs Seattle, WA
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Seattle spends 30.7% more per capita than Tacoma ($10,567/person difference). Both cities share the same Fiscal Health Score.
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Property Tax | $131 | $1,831 |
| Sales Tax | $789 | $1,094 |
| Income Tax | $3,984 | $3,496 |
| Intergovernmental | $17,186 | $9,846 |
| Charges & Fees | $5,236 | $3,960 |
| Other | $6,696 | $8,544 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Fire Protection | $1,153 | $210 |
| Education | $1,396 | $1,461 |
| Public Welfare | $1,807 | $3,439 |
| Health | $283 | $1,131 |
| Hospitals | $396 | $1,871 |
| Parks & Recreation | $1,048 | $3,923 |
| Housing | $4,805 | $3,727 |
| Sewerage | $798 | $952 |
| Utilities | $5,418 | $6,489 |
| Other | $6,793 | $11,260 |
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.