Budget Explorer · City of Gary

Where the money comes from, and where it goes

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

Audited actuals · Census classification · 68K residents

At a glance

Total revenue

$166M

$2,436 per resident

Total spending

$232M

$3,411 per resident

Spending per resident

$3,411

44th percentile of 71

Debt outstanding

$189M

$2,784 per resident · 28th percentile of 70

Own-source share

81%

53rd percentile of 71

Capital share

6th percentile of 71

Where the money comes from

$166M 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$46M28%
License & other taxes$1.6M1%
Federal aid$9.5M6%
State & local aid$21M13%
Charges & fees$83M50%
Interest, fines, other$3.7M2%
Utility revenue$479K0%

Own-source share of general revenue 81% · federal aid 6% · property tax is 97% of taxes

Where it goes

$232M 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$108M46%
Public safety$43M19%
Environment & housing$40M17%
Transportation$28M12%
Interest on debt$6.9M3%
Health & hospitals$3.6M2%
Culture & recreation$2.8M1%
Public welfare$15K0%

Show top functions with operating vs. capital ▸

Function	Category	Operating	Capital	Total
General (unallocable)	General government	$99M	$214K	$99M
Sewerage	Environment & housing	$30M	$4.0M	$34M
Police protection	Public safety	$26M	—	$26M
Fire protection	Public safety	$16M	—	$16M
Air transportation	Transportation	$5.8M	$7.4M	$13M
Transit	Transportation	$8.8M	$511K	$9.3M
Highways	Transportation	$5.2M	—	$5.2M
Housing & community development	Environment & housing	$4.0M	—	$4.0M
Health	Health & hospitals	$3.6M	—	$3.6M
Central staff services	General government	$3.0M	—	$3.0M
Parks & recreation	Culture & recreation	$2.8M	—	$2.8M
Judicial & legal	General government	$2.4M	—	$2.4M
Solid waste management	Environment & housing	$1.9M	—	$1.9M
Financial administration	General government	$1.7M	—	$1.7M

Trend · 3 fiscal years

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

Revenue

+51% over 2 yrs

$109M → $166M

Spending

+42% over 2 yrs

$163M → $232M

Debt outstanding

-9% over 2 yrs

$208M → $189M

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 Gary	Cohort median	Percentile	Higher means
Spending per resident	$3,411	$3,741	44th	more spent per resident
Revenue per resident	$2,436	$3,548	19th	more raised per resident
Taxes per resident	$700	$1,328	11th	heavier own-tax load
Debt per resident	$2,784	$3,865	28th	more borrowed per resident
Own-source share of revenue	81%	81%	53rd	less dependent on aid
Federal aid share of revenue	6%	7%	40th	more exposed to federal cuts
Capital share of spending	5%	18%	6th	more building, less operating
Interest share of spending	3%	4%	35th	more spend servicing debt
Debt ÷ annual revenue	1.14×	1.05×	59th	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 182089163585 (Gary 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 Gary's own budget, in its own structure, from the budget it filed with the state, checked fund by fund against the state's certification. This is the current year — more recent than the Census series above, but only comparable to this city's own history. Totals cover 30 departments.

$84M total

Fire Department$13M16%
Police Department$13M15%
Medical Insurance$11M14%
Consolidated Operations$8.2M10%
Fire Pension$5.4M6%
Police Pension$5.4M6%
Division of Public Works$4.5M5%
Department of Information Technology$2.8M3%
General Services 221$2.5M3%
Further Restricted Mvh$1.9M2%
Parks Department$1.7M2%
City Court$1.6M2%
All other (18)$12M15%

From the budget the city filed with the state through Indiana Gateway, limited to the 8 funds the Department of Local Government Finance certified in its 2026 budget order. Each fund matches its certified amount to the dollar, and together they come to the order's unit total of $84,139,420.
Excludes funds the order does not certify: Casino/riverboat ($15.1M), County Public Safety Income Tax (loit) ($11.0M), County Economic Dev Income Tax (cedit) ($8.7M), Casino Local Dev. Agreement ($6.0M).
Department names are the descriptions attached to the state's accounting codes, and a few are funds or programmes rather than departments.
Indiana cities budget on a calendar year.
Gary publishes no budget document of its own.
Source: Indiana Gateway 2026 Line-Item Budget Estimate (Form 1), funds certified by the state (state budget filing), retrieved 2026-09-13. Open the state's certification.

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