Thornton, CO vs Lakewood, CO
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Thornton spends 40.5% more per capita than Lakewood ($4,166/person difference). Lakewood, CO has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (C, 56/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Sales Tax | $530 | $897 |
| Income Tax | $420 | $0 |
| Intergovernmental | $17,658 | $1,276 |
| Charges & Fees | $4,216 | $82 |
| Other | $1,541 | $2,128 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Fire Protection | $427 | $205 |
| Highways & Roads | $411 | $0 |
| Public Welfare | $899 | $1,061 |
| Hospitals | $173 | $70 |
| Parks & Recreation | $1,969 | $2,250 |
| Housing | $3,363 | $3,750 |
| Sewerage | $159 | $176 |
| Utilities | $3,118 | $79 |
| Other | $3,943 | $2,705 |
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.