Budget Explorer · City of Arlington

Where the money comes from, and where it goes

Comparable revenue, spending, and debt for City of Arlington, 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 Sep 30, 2023. City of Arlington's own FY2026 budget, in its own structure, follows below.

Audited actuals · Census classification · 395K residents

At a glance

Total revenue

$851M

$2,157 per resident

Total spending

$806M

$2,042 per resident

Spending per resident

$2,042

6th percentile of 71

Debt outstanding

$2.37B

$5,997 per resident · 71st percentile of 70

Own-source share

91%

94th percentile of 71

Capital share

20%

58th percentile of 71

Where the money comes from

$851M 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$192M23%
General sales tax$184M22%
Selective sales taxes$53M6%
License & other taxes$10M1%
Federal aid$53M6%
State & local aid$15M2%
Charges & fees$188M22%
Interest, fines, other$47M6%
Utility revenue$109M13%

Own-source share of general revenue 91% · federal aid 7% · property tax is 44% of taxes

Where it goes

$806M 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.

Public safety$201M25%
General government$159M20%
Environment & housing$107M13%
Culture & recreation$93M12%
Interest on debt$84M10%
Utilities (water, power, gas)$83M10%
Transportation$74M9%
Health & hospitals$4.7M1%

Show top functions with operating vs. capital ▸

Function	Category	Operating	Capital	Total
Police protection	Public safety	$128M	$1.3M	$130M
General (unallocable)	General government	$84M	$33M	$117M
Sewerage	Environment & housing	$51M	$49M	$100M
Parks & recreation	Culture & recreation	$61M	$22M	$84M
Water utility	Utilities (water, power, gas)	$56M	$26M	$83M
Highways	Transportation	$42M	$31M	$73M
Fire protection	Public safety	$65M	—	$65M
Central staff services	General government	$17M	—	$17M
Libraries	Culture & recreation	$9.3M	—	$9.3M
General public buildings	General government	$7.5M	$1.5M	$9.0M
Judicial & legal	General government	$8.9M	—	$8.9M
Financial administration	General government	$7.0M	—	$7.0M
Housing & community development	Environment & housing	$6.6M	—	$6.6M
Protective inspection & regulation	Public safety	$6.5M	—	$6.5M

Trend · 3 fiscal years

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

Revenue

+14% over 2 yrs

$747M → $851M

Spending

+27% over 2 yrs

$633M → $806M

Debt outstanding

-1% over 2 yrs

$2.38B → $2.37B

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 Arlington	Cohort median	Percentile	Higher means
Spending per resident	$2,042	$3,741	6th	more spent per resident
Revenue per resident	$2,157	$3,548	9th	more raised per resident
Taxes per resident	$1,112	$1,328	35th	heavier own-tax load
Debt per resident	$5,997	$3,865	71st	more borrowed per resident
Own-source share of revenue	91%	81%	94th	less dependent on aid
Federal aid share of revenue	7%	7%	56th	more exposed to federal cuts
Capital share of spending	20%	18%	58th	more building, less operating
Interest share of spending	10%	4%	98th	more spend servicing debt
Debt ÷ annual revenue	2.78×	1.05×	98th	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 482439194811 (Arlington 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 · FY2026

City of Arlington'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 current year — more recent than the Census series above, but only comparable to this city's own history. Totals cover 21 departments.

$343M total

Police$142M42%
Fire$78M23%
Parks and Recreation$25M7%
Non-departmental$14M4%
Asset Management$11M3%
Planning and Development Services$9.1M3%
Libraries$8.5M2%
Finance$8.1M2%
Public Works$8.1M2%
Economic Development Services$7.4M2%
Transportation$6.0M2%
City Attorney's Office$5.9M2%
All other (9)$20M6%

Parsed from the published budget book (pages 128-132) — General Fund only — the all-funds summary is by fund and expense type, not department.
Figures are checked against the total the document itself prints before publishing.
General Fund only.
Arlington had published only proposed documents for FY2027 when this was captured, so FY2026 is its most recent adopted year.
Arlington's site refuses a plain download and needs browser-style request headers.
Source: FY2026 Adopted Operating Budget and Business Plan (General Fund Expenditures) (published budget book), retrieved 2026-09-13. Open the source document.

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