Budget Explorer · City of Milwaukee

Where the money comes from, and where it goes

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

Audited actuals · Census classification · 563K residents

At a glance

Total revenue

$1.46B

$2,595 per resident

Total spending

$1.37B

$2,426 per resident

Spending per resident

$2,426

20th percentile of 71

Debt outstanding

$1.57B

$2,780 per resident · 26th percentile of 70

Own-source share

57%

6th percentile of 71

Capital share

16th percentile of 71

Where the money comes from

$1.46B 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$364M25%
License & other taxes$29M2%
Federal aid$210M14%
State & local aid$380M26%
Charges & fees$295M20%
Interest, fines, other$91M6%
Utility revenue$93M6%

Own-source share of general revenue 57% · federal aid 15% · property tax is 93% of taxes

Where it goes

$1.37B 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.

Public safety$517M38%
General government$241M18%
Transportation$207M15%
Environment & housing$160M12%
Utilities (water, power, gas)$91M7%
Interest on debt$61M4%
Culture & recreation$47M3%
Health & hospitals$42M3%

Show top functions with operating vs. capital ▸

Function	Category	Operating	Capital	Total
Police protection	Public safety	$336M	$11M	$347M
Highways	Transportation	$116M	$56M	$172M
Fire protection	Public safety	$136M	$2.2M	$138M
General (unallocable)	General government	$86M	$35M	$121M
Water utility	Utilities (water, power, gas)	$91M	—	$91M
Sewerage	Environment & housing	$70M	—	$70M
Central staff services	General government	$62M	—	$62M
Solid waste management	Environment & housing	$52M	—	$52M
Libraries	Culture & recreation	$40M	$1.8M	$42M
Health	Health & hospitals	$42M	—	$42M
Housing & community development	Environment & housing	$34M	$3.5M	$37M
Protective inspection & regulation	Public safety	$25M	—	$25M
Parking	Transportation	$24M	—	$24M
General public buildings	General government	$10M	$13M	$23M

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

$1.32B → $1.46B

Spending

+0% over 2 yrs

$1.36B → $1.37B

Debt outstanding

+1% over 2 yrs

$1.55B → $1.57B

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 Milwaukee	Cohort median	Percentile	Higher means
Spending per resident	$2,426	$3,741	20th	more spent per resident
Revenue per resident	$2,595	$3,548	23rd	more raised per resident
Taxes per resident	$698	$1,328	9th	heavier own-tax load
Debt per resident	$2,780	$3,865	26th	more borrowed per resident
Own-source share of revenue	57%	81%	6th	less dependent on aid
Federal aid share of revenue	15%	7%	91st	more exposed to federal cuts
Capital share of spending	9%	18%	16th	more building, less operating
Interest share of spending	4%	4%	58th	more spend servicing debt
Debt ÷ annual revenue	1.07×	1.05×	52nd	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 552079136562 (Milwaukee 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 Milwaukee'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 28 departments.

$1.59B total

Public Works, Dept. of$333M21%
Police Department$319M20%
Water Works$217M14%
Fire Department$180M11%
Sewer Maintenance Fund$114M7%
Administration, Dept. of$69M4%
City Development, Dept. of$65M4%
Transportation Fund$41M3%
Library$38M2%
Health Department$34M2%
Neighborhood Services, Dept. of$29M2%
ERS Administration$29M2%
All other (16)$121M8%

Parsed from the published budget book (pages 19-19) — department appropriations across operating, capital and grant funds.
Figures are checked against the total the document itself prints before publishing.
The table prints no grand total; it is checked against the book's own control total for city purposes, which it does not tie to exactly because the table excludes non-departmental contingency.
Milwaukee Public Schools runs a separate budget and is excluded.
Source: 2026 Adopted Detailed Budget (published budget book), retrieved 2026-09-08. Open the source document.

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