Budget Explorer · City of Aberdeen

Where the money comes from, and where it goes

Comparable revenue, spending, and debt for City of Aberdeen, on the same Census classification used for every city, county, and state in the Library — so the figures line up with peers rather than with the government's own budget book. Latest year: FY ending Dec 31, 2023. City of Aberdeen's own 2025 budget, in its own structure, follows below.

Audited actuals · Census classification · 28K residents

At a glance

Total revenue

$67M

$2,384 per resident

Total spending

$61M

$2,146 per resident

Spending per resident

$2,146

13th percentile of 71

Debt outstanding

$4.0M

$143 per resident · 1st percentile of 70

Own-source share

76%

37th percentile of 71

Capital share

2nd percentile of 71

Where the money comes from

$67M total

Own-source revenue (taxes, charges, interest) versus aid from other governments. Utility and trust revenue are shown alongside general revenue but run on their own books.

Property tax$13M19%
General sales tax$23M34%
License & other taxes$540K1%
Federal aid$11M17%
State & local aid$2.8M4%
Charges & fees$6.8M10%
Interest, fines, other$2.7M4%
Utility revenue$7.0M10%

Own-source share of general revenue 76% · federal aid 19% · property tax is 36% of taxes

Where it goes

$61M total

Current operations plus capital outlay, grouped by Census function. Interest on debt and transfers to other governments are broken out so they are not hidden inside services.

Transportation$21M34%
Public safety$13M22%
Environment & housing$9.3M15%
Culture & recreation$7.7M13%
Utilities (water, power, gas)$5.2M9%
General government$4.1M7%
Health & hospitals$384K1%
Interest on debt$120K0%
Transfers to other governments$39K0%

Show top functions with operating vs. capital ▸

Function	Category	Operating	Capital	Total
Highways	Transportation	$12M	—	$12M
Air transportation	Transportation	$7.7M	—	$7.7M
Parks & recreation	Culture & recreation	$7.7M	—	$7.7M
Housing & community development	Environment & housing	$6.8M	$181K	$7.0M
Police protection	Public safety	$6.7M	—	$6.7M
Fire protection	Public safety	$6.1M	—	$6.1M
Water utility	Utilities (water, power, gas)	$5.2M	—	$5.2M
Solid waste management	Environment & housing	$2.3M	—	$2.3M
General (unallocable)	General government	$1.9M	—	$1.9M
Financial administration	General government	$1.2M	—	$1.2M
Transit	Transportation	$997K	—	$997K
Central staff services	General government	$493K	—	$493K
Misc. commercial activities	General government	$434K	—	$434K
Health	Health & hospitals	$384K	—	$384K

Trend · 3 fiscal years

Nominal dollars. The Census Bureau cautions that single-government series are edited only for aggregates — read direction, not decimals.

Revenue

+3% over 2 yrs

$65M → $67M

Spending

+10% over 2 yrs

$55M → $61M

Debt outstanding

-87% over 2 yrs

$31M → $4.0M

How it compares · 71 cities and counties in the Library

Percentile within the cohort on each place's latest Census year. Higher is not better — the last column says what a high reading means so you can decide whether it matters here.

Measure	City of Aberdeen	Cohort median	Percentile	Higher means
Spending per resident	$2,146	$3,741	13th	more spent per resident
Revenue per resident	$2,384	$3,548	13th	more raised per resident
Taxes per resident	$1,295	$1,328	47th	heavier own-tax load
Debt per resident	$143	$3,865	1st	more borrowed per resident
Own-source share of revenue	76%	81%	37th	less dependent on aid
Federal aid share of revenue	19%	7%	95th	more exposed to federal cuts
Capital share of spending	0%	18%	2nd	more building, less operating
Interest share of spending	0%	4%	1st	more spend servicing debt
Debt ÷ annual revenue	0.06×	1.05×	1st	more leveraged

About this data

Census classification categories, not this government's own budget structure. Figures are audited actuals for the fiscal year shown, not the adopted budget.
The Census Bureau edits unit-level data only to produce state and national aggregates and advises against reading it as a precise time series for any single government; treat year-over-year moves under ~5% as noise.
Employee-retirement-system revenue is excluded (published separately by Census). Utility and insurance-trust revenue are shown separately from general revenue.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances (Individual Unit public-use files), unit 462013209465 (Aberdeen City). Retrieved 2026-09-07. Classification manual.

Spot an error, or know a better source for this place's adopted budget? Suggest an edit on the assessment.

Adopted budget · 2025

Latest published — not the current year

City of Aberdeen's own budget, in its own structure, read from its published budget book and checked against the total the document itself prints. This is the most recent adopted year the government has published. Totals cover 62 departments.

$136M total

Water Reclamation$32M24%
Water Utility$13M9%
Streets$12M9%
Airport$9.3M7%
Fire & Ambulance$7.3M5%
Police$6.8M5%
Water Treatment$5.6M4%
Tif Debt Service$4.7M3%
Parks$4.1M3%
Sewer Utility$3.4M2%
Health Contributions$3.0M2%
Utility Debt Service$2.3M2%
All other (50)$33M24%

Parsed from the published budget book (pages 1-2) — all funds.
Figures are checked against the total the document itself prints before publishing.
This is 2025. Aberdeen adopted a 2026 budget in September 2025, but the city posts only the proposed version, and the adopted figures differ from it, so the proposal cannot stand in.
The ordinance's function subtotals add to $136,390,600, $200,000 more than its printed grand total of $136,190,600.
Includes debt service and transfers out.
Source: Ordinance 24-09-01, 2025 Annual Appropriation Ordinance (published budget book), retrieved 2026-09-13. Open the source document.

Looking for how this fits City of Aberdeen's capacity to deliver? The fiscal dimension, binding constraint, and pathways live in the City of Aberdeen capacity assessment.