Waukegan, IL vs Joliet, IL
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Joliet spends 30.8% more per capita than Waukegan ($5,760/person difference). Waukegan, IL has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (A, 90/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Sales Tax | $32 | $323 |
| Income Tax | $0 | $1,006 |
| Intergovernmental | $4,312 | $12,066 |
| Charges & Fees | $1,728 | $2,156 |
| Other | $1,050 | $3,429 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Fire Protection | $0 | $208 |
| Highways & Roads | $0 | $165 |
| Public Welfare | $984 | $2,118 |
| Health | $458 | $450 |
| Hospitals | $377 | $485 |
| Parks & Recreation | $118 | $459 |
| Housing | $5,135 | $3,292 |
| Sewerage | $311 | $94 |
| Utilities | $1,645 | $3,400 |
| Other | $3,888 | $8,005 |
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.