Tuscaloosa, AL vs Madison, AL
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Madison spends 58.1% more per capita than Tuscaloosa ($15,121/person difference). Tuscaloosa, AL has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (C, 55/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Property Tax | $2 | $73 |
| Sales Tax | $0 | $107 |
| Income Tax | $0 | $2,566 |
| Intergovernmental | $0 | $8,683 |
| Charges & Fees | $0 | $3,300 |
| Other | $791 | $4,323 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Police | $1,260 | $2,061 |
| Fire Protection | $1,043 | $2,129 |
| Public Welfare | $2,419 | $5,542 |
| Health | $540 | $0 |
| Parks & Recreation | $375 | $799 |
| Housing | $1,916 | $5,194 |
| Utilities | $88 | $3,593 |
| Other | $3,252 | $6,698 |
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.