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Data from U.S. Census Bureau · 2026 · Methodology
CitySpend

Updated April 2026 · U.S. Census Bureau data

Texas City Spending Rankings

Texas has 71 cities with 50,000 or more residents covered by CitySpend, totaling 15.6M in covered population. The average Fiscal Health Score across these cities is 67/100, sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances. Texas's covered cities post a healthy average Fiscal Health Score of 67/100 (grade B). On the whole, Texas cities run balanced budgets, manageable debt loads, and adequately funded pension systems. Individual cities still vary, the rankings below show which are pulling above and below the state average.

View full data profile for Texas →
Cities
71
Total Population
15.6M
Avg Fiscal Score
67/100
Total Police Spending
$3.8B

Texas Fiscal Profile

Across all covered Texas cities, the largest aggregate spending categories are parks at $12.9B and fire protection at $5.0B. That mix reflects Texas's overall service-delivery model, in some states police and fire dominate; in others, education or roads take the largest aggregate share when cities operate their own school districts.

Healthiest and Most Stressed Cities

Top Fiscal Performers

Rowlett63K
A
DeSoto56K
A
Wichita Falls102K
A
Laredo255K
A
Brownsville187K
A

Most Fiscally Stressed

Leander62K
C
Harlingen71K
C
Pharr79K
C
Atascocita89K
C
Edinburg101K
C

All 71 Cities in Texas

Houston, TX

Pop. 2.3M

A
Total Spending
$33.1B
Per Capita
$14,400

San Antonio, TX

Pop. 1.4M

B
Total Spending
$24.5B
Per Capita
$16,943

Dallas, TX

Pop. 1.3M

C
Total Spending
$45.3B
Per Capita
$34,849

Austin, TX

Pop. 958K

B
Total Spending
$20.9B
Per Capita
$21,772

Fort Worth, TX

Pop. 925K

C
Total Spending
$14.7B
Per Capita
$15,939

El Paso, TX

Pop. 677K

C
Total Spending
$16.4B
Per Capita
$24,259

Arlington, TX

Pop. 393K

A
Total Spending
$4.6B
Per Capita
$11,769

Corpus Christi, TX

Pop. 318K

B
Total Spending
$4.0B
Per Capita
$12,479

Plano, TX

Pop. 285K

B
Total Spending
$4.8B
Per Capita
$16,842

Lubbock, TX

Pop. 258K

C
Total Spending
$8.5B
Per Capita
$32,743

Laredo, TX

Pop. 255K

A
Total Spending
$4.2B
Per Capita
$16,559

Irving, TX

Pop. 255K

A
Total Spending
$3.6B
Per Capita
$14,101

Garland, TX

Pop. 244K

B
Total Spending
$3.1B
Per Capita
$12,614

Frisco, TX

Pop. 202K

B
Total Spending
$2.8B
Per Capita
$13,805

Amarillo, TX

Pop. 200K

C
Total Spending
$3.4B
Per Capita
$16,883

Grand Prairie, TX

Pop. 197K

C
Total Spending
$3.6B
Per Capita
$18,279

McKinney, TX

Pop. 196K

B
Total Spending
$3.0B
Per Capita
$15,053

Brownsville, TX

Pop. 187K

A
Total Spending
$1.9B
Per Capita
$9,921

Killeen, TX

Pop. 154K

A
Total Spending
$1.4B
Per Capita
$9,074

Pasadena, TX

Pop. 151K

A
Total Spending
$1.4B
Per Capita
$8,970

Mesquite, TX

Pop. 149K

B
Total Spending
$1.9B
Per Capita
$12,966

McAllen, TX

Pop. 143K

C
Total Spending
$2.2B
Per Capita
$15,551

Denton, TX

Pop. 142K

A
Total Spending
$3.1B
Per Capita
$21,622

Waco, TX

Pop. 141K

B
Total Spending
$2.5B
Per Capita
$17,963

Midland, TX

Pop. 132K

C
Total Spending
$906.5M
Per Capita
$6,842

Carrollton, TX

Pop. 132K

B
Total Spending
$1.6B
Per Capita
$11,954

Abilene, TX

Pop. 126K

B
Total Spending
$1.9B
Per Capita
$15,124

Lewisville, TX

Pop. 125K

B
Total Spending
$1.3B
Per Capita
$10,277

Pearland, TX

Pop. 124K

B
Total Spending
$1.5B
Per Capita
$12,192

Round Rock, TX

Pop. 120K

B
Total Spending
$1.7B
Per Capita
$14,124

College Station, TX

Pop. 120K

B
Total Spending
$1.1B
Per Capita
$9,372

The Woodlands, TX

Pop. 118K

C

Richardson, TX

Pop. 118K

C
Total Spending
$1.9B
Per Capita
$15,795

Beaumont, TX

Pop. 115K

A
Total Spending
$2.4B
Per Capita
$20,572

League City, TX

Pop. 113K

B
Total Spending
$1.1B
Per Capita
$10,115

Odessa, TX

Pop. 113K

C
Total Spending
$1.7B
Per Capita
$14,635

Sugar Land, TX

Pop. 110K

C
Total Spending
$1.3B
Per Capita
$12,080

Tyler, TX

Pop. 106K

C
Total Spending
$1.3B
Per Capita
$12,276

Allen, TX

Pop. 105K

C
Total Spending
$1.9B
Per Capita
$18,340

Wichita Falls, TX

Pop. 102K

A
Total Spending
$1.2B
Per Capita
$12,130

Edinburg, TX

Pop. 101K

C

San Angelo, TX

Pop. 99K

A
Total Spending
$1.3B
Per Capita
$13,075

New Braunfels, TX

Pop. 93K

B
Total Spending
$1.3B
Per Capita
$14,369

Conroe, TX

Pop. 92K

B
Total Spending
$1.5B
Per Capita
$15,799

Atascocita, TX

Pop. 89K

C

Mission, TX

Pop. 86K

C
Total Spending
$772.8M
Per Capita
$9,011

Bryan, TX

Pop. 85K

B
Total Spending
$1.1B
Per Capita
$12,857

Baytown, TX

Pop. 84K

C
Total Spending
$1.5B
Per Capita
$18,066

Temple, TX

Pop. 83K

C
Total Spending
$1.0B
Per Capita
$12,377

Longview, TX

Pop. 82K

B
Total Spending
$1.2B
Per Capita
$14,023

Pharr, TX

Pop. 79K

C

Flower Mound, TX

Pop. 77K

B
Total Spending
$1.4B
Per Capita
$17,811

Cedar Park, TX

Pop. 76K

B
Total Spending
$1.2B
Per Capita
$15,625

Missouri City, TX

Pop. 75K

C
Total Spending
$687.8M
Per Capita
$9,230

Mansfield, TX

Pop. 74K

B
Total Spending
$1.2B
Per Capita
$16,040

Georgetown, TX

Pop. 72K

C
Total Spending
$1.2B
Per Capita
$16,322

Harlingen, TX

Pop. 71K

C

North Richland Hills, TX

Pop. 70K

C
Total Spending
$1.3B
Per Capita
$18,265

San Marcos, TX

Pop. 67K

C
Total Spending
$1.2B
Per Capita
$17,712

Victoria, TX

Pop. 65K

C
Total Spending
$2.4B
Per Capita
$36,823

Pflugerville, TX

Pop. 65K

B
Total Spending
$722.3M
Per Capita
$11,193

Spring, TX

Pop. 64K

B
Total Spending
$66.6M
Per Capita
$1,043

Rowlett, TX

Pop. 63K

A
Total Spending
$783.0M
Per Capita
$12,372

Leander, TX

Pop. 62K

C

Euless, TX

Pop. 60K

B
Total Spending
$790.9M
Per Capita
$13,104

Wylie, TX

Pop. 57K

A
Total Spending
$621.5M
Per Capita
$10,891

Port Arthur, TX

Pop. 56K

C
Total Spending
$1.2B
Per Capita
$21,172

DeSoto, TX

Pop. 56K

A
Total Spending
$649.1M
Per Capita
$11,616

Galveston, TX

Pop. 53K

C
Total Spending
$1.8B
Per Capita
$33,344

Texas City, TX

Pop. 53K

C
Total Spending
$697.1M
Per Capita
$13,133

Grapevine, TX

Pop. 51K

C
Total Spending
$1.5B
Per Capita
$28,691

How These Rankings Are Calculated

City Fiscal Health Scores combine budget balance and reserves (25%), debt burden per capita (20%), pension funded ratio (20%), spending efficiency (15%), revenue diversity (10%), and three-year trend direction (10%). All inputs come from the U.S. Census Bureau Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances. For the largest cities, we cross-reference the Lincoln Institute's Fiscally Standardized Cities database to adjust for school-district and county overlap. Pension data comes from the Public Plans Database. Best-practice weighting follows guidance from the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA). Read the full methodology.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many cities in Texas are covered by CitySpend?

CitySpend covers 71 cities in Texas with 50,000 or more residents, totaling 15.6M in population. Smaller municipalities, towns, and unincorporated areas are excluded from the dataset.

What is Texas's average Fiscal Health Score?

Texas's 71 covered cities post an average Fiscal Health Score of 67/100. The score combines budget balance and reserves, debt burden per capita, pension funding, spending efficiency, revenue diversity, and three-year trend direction. Each city is benchmarked against population peers, so a 200,000-resident city is compared to other mid-size cities, not against the largest cities in the country.

Where does Texas city spending data come from?

Every figure on this page is drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances, with population estimates from the American Community Survey. For the largest cities, we cross-reference the Lincoln Institute's Fiscally Standardized Cities database to adjust for school-district overlap. Federal grant flows come from USASpending.gov; pension data, where available, comes from the Public Plans Database.

Which Texas cities have the strongest fiscal health?

Rowlett (A), DeSoto (A), Wichita Falls (A) rank among the top fiscal performers in Texas. Strong scores typically pair balanced budgets with low debt-per-capita and well-funded pensions. See the rankings below for the full list.

Which Texas cities are most fiscally stressed?

Leander (C), Harlingen (C), Pharr (C) rank toward the bottom of the Texas fiscal health distribution. Common stress signals include pension underfunding, elevated debt service, and revenue concentration in a single tax source. A low score is a screening signal, not a verdict, always read the city's audited Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (ACFR) before drawing conclusions.

Texas has 71 cities with 50,000 or more residents covered by CitySpend, totaling 15.6M in covered population. The average Fiscal Health Score across these cities is 67/100, sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances. Texas's covered cities post a healthy average Fiscal Health Score of 67/100 (grade B). On the whole, Texas cities run balanced budgets, manageable debt loads, and adequately funded pension systems. Individual cities still vary, the rankings below show which are pulling above and below the state average.

The this entity record above pulls directly from the Census Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances. What follows is the per-entity context — how this entity sits in the broader U.S. municipal and county government finances distribution and which underlying factors drive the headline numbers.

Every number on this page links back to the Census Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances; the methodology page describes the inputs, refresh cadence, and known limitations of the underlying data product.

For readers using this page as a decision input, the related-entity pages elsewhere on the site provide the comparison set. The most useful comparison for this entity is typically a peer within U.S. cities, counties, and states with similar size, similar exposure, or similar geography — not the national-level summary alone.