Budget Explorer · City of Memphis

Where the money comes from, and where it goes

Comparable revenue, spending, and debt for City of Memphis, 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 Memphis's own FY2026 budget, in its own structure, follows below.

Audited actuals · Census classification · 621K residents

At a glance

Total revenue

$3.64B

$5,855 per resident

Total spending

$3.22B

$5,192 per resident

Spending per resident

$5,192

71st percentile of 71

Debt outstanding

$1.75B

$2,811 per resident · 29th percentile of 70

Own-source share

65%

16th percentile of 71

Capital share

8th percentile of 71

Where the money comes from

$3.64B 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$287M8%
General sales tax$236M6%
Selective sales taxes$61M2%
License & other taxes$13M0%
Federal aid$60M2%
State & local aid$589M16%
Charges & fees$347M10%
Interest, fines, other$271M7%
Utility revenue$1.77B49%

Own-source share of general revenue 65% · federal aid 3% · property tax is 48% of taxes

Where it goes

$3.22B 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.

Utilities (water, power, gas)$1.73B54%
Public safety$524M16%
General government$408M13%
Environment & housing$300M9%
Transportation$125M4%
Culture & recreation$108M3%
Interest on debt$25M1%

Show top functions with operating vs. capital ▸

Function	Category	Operating	Capital	Total
Electric utility	Utilities (water, power, gas)	$1.27B	$118M	$1.39B
Police protection	Public safety	$309M	—	$309M
General (unallocable)	General government	$282M	$654K	$282M
Gas utility	Utilities (water, power, gas)	$197M	$31M	$228M
Fire protection	Public safety	$215M	—	$215M
Housing & community development	Environment & housing	$121M	—	$121M
Water utility	Utilities (water, power, gas)	$89M	$26M	$115M
Sewerage	Environment & housing	$102M	—	$102M
Parks & recreation	Culture & recreation	$85M	—	$85M
Transit	Transportation	$73M	$8.6M	$82M
Solid waste management	Environment & housing	$77M	—	$77M
Highways	Transportation	$37M	—	$37M
Financial administration	General government	$37M	—	$37M
Central staff services	General government	$36M	—	$36M

Trend · 3 fiscal years

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

Revenue

+10% over 2 yrs

$3.32B → $3.64B

Spending

+6% over 2 yrs

$3.04B → $3.22B

Debt outstanding

-19% over 2 yrs

$2.16B → $1.75B

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 Memphis	Cohort median	Percentile	Higher means
Spending per resident	$5,192	$3,741	71st	more spent per resident
Revenue per resident	$5,855	$3,548	80th	more raised per resident
Taxes per resident	$962	$1,328	22nd	heavier own-tax load
Debt per resident	$2,811	$3,865	29th	more borrowed per resident
Own-source share of revenue	65%	81%	16th	less dependent on aid
Federal aid share of revenue	3%	7%	22nd	more exposed to federal cuts
Capital share of spending	6%	18%	8th	more building, less operating
Interest share of spending	1%	4%	2nd	more spend servicing debt
Debt ÷ annual revenue	0.48×	1.05×	15th	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 472157175826 (Memphis 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 · FY2026

City of Memphis'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 functions.

$1.74B total

Police Services$308M18%
Fire Services$247M14%
Public Works$203M12%
Category FY 2024 Actual FY 2025 Adopted FY 2025 Estim ated FY 2026 AdoptedRetirement Investors$199M11%
Unallocated$170M10%
Human Resources$150M9%
Solid Waste$105M6%
General Services$66M4%
Grants & Subsidies$65M4%
Memphis Parks$52M3%
City Attorney$34M2%
Information Technology$28M2%
All other (10)$117M7%

Parsed from the published budget book (pages 114-115) — all funds, by function.
Figures are checked against the total the document itself prints before publishing.
Memphis had not published an FY2027 adopted book when this was captured, only a proposed one; FY2026 is its most recent adopted year.
Rows are functions rather than departments, so several are non-departmental: retirement investors, unallocated, grants and subsidies, and long-term debt.
The city's apex domain blocks non-browser clients; the www host serves the same file.
Source: FY2026 Adopted Budget Book (Expenditures by Function) (published budget book), retrieved 2026-09-08. Open the source document.

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