Budget Explorer · City of Charlotte
Comparable revenue, spending, and debt for City of Charlotte, 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 Charlotte's own FY2027 budget, in its own structure, follows below.
Total revenue
$3.16B
$3,517 per resident
Total spending
$3.48B
$3,880 per resident
Spending per resident
$3,880
51st percentile of 71
Debt outstanding
$5.15B
$5,740 per resident · 69th percentile of 70
Own-source share
83%
61st percentile of 71
Capital share
40%
96th 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 83% · federal aid 10% · property tax is 52% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air transportation | Transportation | $291M | $482M | $773M |
| Sewerage | Environment & housing | $125M | $321M | $446M |
| Police protection | Public safety | $357M | $31M | $389M |
| Water utility | Utilities (water, power, gas) | $115M | $268M | $383M |
| Transit | Transportation | $212M | $56M | $268M |
| Fire protection | Public safety | $178M | $17M | $195M |
| Parks & recreation | Culture & recreation | $138M | $31M | $169M |
| Housing & community development | Environment & housing | $110M | $43M | $153M |
| Highways | Transportation | $65M | $72M | $136M |
| Central staff services | General government | $49M | $39M | $88M |
| Solid waste management | Environment & housing | $80M | $8.3M | $88M |
| General (unallocable) | General government | $70M | $1.3M | $71M |
| Financial administration | General government | $32M | $719K | $32M |
| General public buildings | General government | $4.7M | $22M | $27M |
Nominal dollars. The Census Bureau cautions that single-government series are edited only for aggregates — read direction, not decimals.
Revenue
+34% over 2 yrs
$2.36B → $3.16B
Spending
+19% over 2 yrs
$2.94B → $3.48B
Debt outstanding
+18% over 2 yrs
$4.35B → $5.15B
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 Charlotte | Cohort median | Percentile | Higher means |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spending per resident | $3,880 | $3,741 | 51st | more spent per resident |
| Revenue per resident | $3,517 | $3,548 | 47th | more raised per resident |
| Taxes per resident | $1,254 | $1,328 | 44th | heavier own-tax load |
| Debt per resident | $5,740 | $3,865 | 69th | more borrowed per resident |
| Own-source share of revenue | 83% | 81% | 61st | less dependent on aid |
| Federal aid share of revenue | 10% | 7% | 78th | more exposed to federal cuts |
| Capital share of spending | 40% | 18% | 96th | more building, less operating |
| Interest share of spending | 7% | 4% | 82nd | more spend servicing debt |
| Debt ÷ annual revenue | 1.63× | 1.05× | 76th | 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 Charlotte'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 22 departments.
Looking for how this fits City of Charlotte's capacity to deliver? The fiscal dimension, binding constraint, and pathways live in the City of Charlotte 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.