Budget Explorer · City of Boston
Comparable revenue, spending, and debt for City of Boston, 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 Jun 30, 2024. City of Boston's own FY2027 budget, in its own structure, follows below.
Total revenue
$6.20B
$9,533 per resident
Total spending
$6.59B
$10,128 per resident
Spending per resident
$10,128
95th percentile of 71
Debt outstanding
$2.30B
$3,542 per resident · 44th percentile of 70
Own-source share
73%
26th percentile of 71
Capital share
14%
40th percentile of 71
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.
Own-source share of general revenue 73% · federal aid 0% · property tax is 90% of taxes
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.
| Function | Category | Operating | Capital | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| K-12 education | Education | $2.18B | $73M | $2.25B |
| General (unallocable) | General government | $970M | $307M | $1.28B |
| Police protection | Public safety | $536M | $15M | $551M |
| Hospitals | Health & hospitals | $382M | $6.0M | $388M |
| Fire protection | Public safety | $321M | — | $321M |
| Parks & recreation | Culture & recreation | $53M | $164M | $216M |
| Housing & community development | Environment & housing | $177M | $36M | $213M |
| Highways | Transportation | $71M | $108M | $179M |
| Solid waste management | Environment & housing | $160M | — | $160M |
| Sewerage | Environment & housing | $51M | $60M | $111M |
| Water utility | Utilities (water, power, gas) | $50M | $55M | $105M |
| Libraries | Culture & recreation | $51M | $35M | $86M |
| Financial administration | General government | $85M | — | $85M |
| General public buildings | General government | $46M | $19M | $65M |
Nominal dollars. The Census Bureau cautions that single-government series are edited only for aggregates — read direction, not decimals.
Revenue
+19% over 2 yrs
$5.21B → $6.20B
Spending
+17% over 2 yrs
$5.61B → $6.59B
Debt outstanding
+13% over 2 yrs
$2.05B → $2.30B
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 Boston | Cohort median | Percentile | Higher means |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spending per resident | $10,128 | $3,741 | 95th | more spent per resident |
| Revenue per resident | $9,533 | $3,548 | 94th | more raised per resident |
| Taxes per resident | $5,508 | $1,328 | 95th | heavier own-tax load |
| Debt per resident | $3,542 | $3,865 | 44th | more borrowed per resident |
| Own-source share of revenue | 73% | 81% | 26th | less dependent on aid |
| Federal aid share of revenue | 0% | 7% | 8th | more exposed to federal cuts |
| Capital share of spending | 14% | 18% | 40th | more building, less operating |
| Interest share of spending | 1% | 4% | 9th | more spend servicing debt |
| Debt ÷ annual revenue | 0.37× | 1.05× | 11th | more leveraged |
Spot an error, or know a better source for this place's adopted budget? Suggest an edit on the assessment.
Adopted budget · FY2027
City of Boston's own budget, in its own structure, from its open-data portal. This is the current year — more recent than the Census series above, but only comparable to this city's own history. Totals cover 79 departments.
Looking for how this fits City of Boston's capacity to deliver? The fiscal dimension, binding constraint, and pathways live in the City of Boston capacity assessment.
The Civic Infrastructure Diagnostic Framework’s structural elements — the four cluster labels, the six capacity dimensions, and the binding-constraint framing — are licensed under CC BY 4.0. Anyone may use or adapt them with attribution. Tool implementation and full article text © 2026 JTV Advisory LLC.