Virginia Beach, VA vs Portsmouth, VA
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Portsmouth spends 9.0% more per capita than Virginia Beach ($4,189/person difference). Portsmouth, VA 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 | $673 | $291 |
| Income Tax | $831 | $2,119 |
| Intergovernmental | $31,808 | $12 |
| Charges & Fees | $1,462 | $2,606 |
| Other | $3,301 | $2,972 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Police | $1,126 | $1,848 |
| Fire Protection | $512 | $450 |
| Highways & Roads | $0 | $954 |
| Education | $21,342 | $20,569 |
| Public Welfare | $2,071 | $1,406 |
| Health | $426 | $270 |
| Hospitals | $1,036 | $3,784 |
| Parks & Recreation | $1,574 | $1,573 |
| Housing | $2,788 | $3,282 |
| Sewerage | $140 | $298 |
| Utilities | $3,523 | $4,446 |
| Interest on Debt | $0 | $63 |
| Other | $7,978 | $7,760 |
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.