Budget Explorer · City of Duluth

Where the money comes from, and where it goes

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

Audited actuals · Census classification · 87K residents

At a glance

Total revenue

$407M

$4,694 per resident

Total spending

$422M

$4,873 per resident

Spending per resident

$4,873

64th percentile of 71

Debt outstanding

$116M

$1,337 per resident · 12th percentile of 70

Own-source share

65%

15th percentile of 71

Capital share

13%

37th percentile of 71

Where the money comes from

$407M 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$51M12%
General sales tax$36M9%
Selective sales taxes$12M3%
License & other taxes$2.7M1%
Federal aid$39M10%
State & local aid$75M18%
Charges & fees$93M23%
Interest, fines, other$16M4%
Utility revenue$81M20%

Own-source share of general revenue 65% · federal aid 12% · property tax is 50% of taxes

Where it goes

$422M 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.

General government$115M27%
Transportation$93M22%
Utilities (water, power, gas)$63M15%
Public safety$54M13%
Culture & recreation$54M13%
Environment & housing$38M9%
Interest on debt$5.5M1%

Show top functions with operating vs. capital ▸

Function	Category	Operating	Capital	Total
General (unallocable)	General government	$107M	$2.8M	$110M
Parks & recreation	Culture & recreation	$41M	$8.1M	$49M
Gas utility	Utilities (water, power, gas)	$36M	$2.5M	$39M
Highways	Transportation	$17M	$20M	$37M
Police protection	Public safety	$31M	$913K	$32M
Transit	Transportation	$28M	—	$28M
Water utility	Utilities (water, power, gas)	$13M	$11M	$24M
Fire protection	Public safety	$21M	$1.2M	$22M
Sewerage	Environment & housing	$17M	$2.3M	$20M
Air transportation	Transportation	$18M	—	$18M
Housing & community development	Environment & housing	$17M	$69K	$17M
Sea & inland ports	Transportation	$3.3M	$6.9M	$10M
Libraries	Culture & recreation	$5.0M	$56K	$5.0M
Financial administration	General government	$4.1M	—	$4.1M

Trend · 3 fiscal years

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

Revenue

+11% over 2 yrs

$366M → $407M

Spending

+41% over 2 yrs

$298M → $422M

Debt outstanding

-12% over 2 yrs

$131M → $116M

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 Duluth	Cohort median	Percentile	Higher means
Spending per resident	$4,873	$3,741	64th	more spent per resident
Revenue per resident	$4,694	$3,548	65th	more raised per resident
Taxes per resident	$1,176	$1,328	40th	heavier own-tax load
Debt per resident	$1,337	$3,865	12th	more borrowed per resident
Own-source share of revenue	65%	81%	15th	less dependent on aid
Federal aid share of revenue	12%	7%	85th	more exposed to federal cuts
Capital share of spending	13%	18%	37th	more building, less operating
Interest share of spending	1%	4%	11th	more spend servicing debt
Debt ÷ annual revenue	0.28×	1.05×	8th	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 272137106897 (Duluth 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 · 2026

City of Duluth'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 9 departments.

$113M total

Police$30M27%
Fire$25M22%
Property, Parks, & Libraries$17M15%
Public Works & Utilities$12M11%
Transfers$8.5M7%
Administrative Services$7.6M7%
Legislative and Executive$5.2M5%
Planning and Economic Development$4.5M4%
Finance$3.5M3%

Parsed from the published budget book (pages 73-73) — General Fund only.
Figures are checked against the total the document itself prints before publishing.
General Fund only; the ordinance appropriates the other funds as single fund totals.
The appropriation ordinance prints the General Fund $10 higher than the budget book, a discrepancy in the Fire line; the book's figure is used.
Source: 2026 Adopted Budget Book (General Fund Approved Expenditures by Department) (published budget book), retrieved 2026-09-13. Open the source document.

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