Budget Explorer · City and County of Denver

Where the money comes from, and where it goes

Comparable revenue, spending, and debt for City and County of Denver, 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 and County of Denver's own 2026 budget, in its own structure, follows below.

Audited actuals · Census classification · 713K residents

At a glance

Total revenue

$6.06B

$8,494 per resident

Total spending

$5.59B

$7,841 per resident

Spending per resident

$7,841

88th percentile of 71

Debt outstanding

$9.01B

$12,637 per resident · 92nd percentile of 70

Own-source share

90%

88th percentile of 71

Capital share

30%

88th percentile of 71

Where the money comes from

$6.06B 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$645M11%
General sales tax$1.31B22%
Selective sales taxes$254M4%
License & other taxes$164M3%
Federal aid$121M2%
State & local aid$459M8%
Charges & fees$2.16B36%
Interest, fines, other$593M10%
Utility revenue$352M6%

Own-source share of general revenue 90% · federal aid 2% · property tax is 27% of taxes

Where it goes

$5.59B 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$1.70B30%
General government$962M17%
Public safety$668M12%
Utilities (water, power, gas)$632M11%
Interest on debt$558M10%
Environment & housing$427M8%
Culture & recreation$299M5%
Public welfare$212M4%
Health & hospitals$123M2%
Transfers to other governments$13M0%

Show top functions with operating vs. capital ▸

Function	Category	Operating	Capital	Total
Air transportation	Transportation	$581M	$850M	$1.43B
Water utility	Utilities (water, power, gas)	$271M	$362M	$632M
General (unallocable)	General government	$250M	$144M	$394M
Police protection	Public safety	$325M	—	$325M
Financial administration	General government	$296M	—	$296M
Highways	Transportation	$163M	$104M	$267M
Parks & recreation	Culture & recreation	$208M	$34M	$242M
Housing & community development	Environment & housing	$146M	$69M	$215M
Public welfare	Public welfare	$212M	$813K	$212M
Sewerage	Environment & housing	$119M	$58M	$177M
Corrections (institutions)	Public safety	$171M	—	$171M
Fire protection	Public safety	$164M	—	$164M
Judicial & legal	General government	$138M	—	$138M
Health	Health & hospitals	$120M	$3.2M	$123M

Trend · 3 fiscal years

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

Revenue

+20% over 2 yrs

$5.05B → $6.06B

Spending

+3% over 2 yrs

$5.41B → $5.59B

Debt outstanding

+4% over 2 yrs

$8.68B → $9.01B

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 and County of Denver	Cohort median	Percentile	Higher means
Spending per resident	$7,841	$3,741	88th	more spent per resident
Revenue per resident	$8,494	$3,548	91st	more raised per resident
Taxes per resident	$3,331	$1,328	91st	heavier own-tax load
Debt per resident	$12,637	$3,865	92nd	more borrowed per resident
Own-source share of revenue	90%	81%	88th	less dependent on aid
Federal aid share of revenue	2%	7%	16th	more exposed to federal cuts
Capital share of spending	30%	18%	88th	more building, less operating
Interest share of spending	10%	4%	96th	more spend servicing debt
Debt ÷ annual revenue	1.49×	1.05×	74th	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 082031194647 (Denver City and County). 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 · 2026

City and County of Denver'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 35 departments.

$5.76B total

Aviation$1.72B30%
Public Safety$720M12%
Wastewater Management$338M6%
General Government$335M6%
Bond Project Funds$230M4%
Human Services$215M4%
Capital Improvements$201M3%
Culture and Recreation$197M3%
Independent Agencies$156M3%
Grant/Other Capital Funds$153M3%
Health$139M2%
Parks, Recreation, and Culturals$138M2%
All other (23)$1.22B21%

Parsed from the published budget book (pages 58-59) — agency operating appropriations across the General Fund, special revenue, internal service, enterprise, debt service and capital funds.
Figures are checked against the total the document itself prints before publishing.
Denver's summary lists twelve General Fund agency groupings rather than every individual department, so the departmental breakdown is coarser than other cities'.
Agency lines only: citywide transfers, contingency and budget-savings adjustments are excluded, so this is below the book's headline all-funds figure.
Denver budgets on a calendar year.
Source: 2026 Final (Adopted) Budget Book (published budget book), retrieved 2026-09-08. Open the source document.

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