Budget Explorer · Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County
Comparable revenue, spending, and debt for Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, 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. Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County's own FY2026 budget, in its own structure, follows below.
Total revenue
$5.64B
$8,257 per resident
Total spending
$6.46B
$9,448 per resident
Spending per resident
$9,448
92nd percentile of 71
Debt outstanding
$11.0B
$16,121 per resident · 94th percentile of 70
Own-source share
77%
39th percentile of 71
Capital share
18%
50th percentile of 71
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.
Own-source share of general revenue 77% · federal aid 6% · property tax is 51% of taxes
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.
| Function | Category | Operating | Capital | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| K-12 education | Education | $1.40B | $180M | $1.58B |
| Electric utility | Utilities (water, power, gas) | $1.24B | $212M | $1.45B |
| General (unallocable) | General government | $233M | $134M | $366M |
| Police protection | Public safety | $333M | $12M | $344M |
| Water utility | Utilities (water, power, gas) | $108M | $179M | $287M |
| Central staff services | General government | $184M | $79M | $262M |
| Sewerage | Environment & housing | $84M | $177M | $260M |
| Fire protection | Public safety | $206M | $8.0M | $214M |
| Highways | Transportation | $69M | $105M | $174M |
| Housing & community development | Environment & housing | $171M | — | $171M |
| Health | Health & hospitals | $166M | $180K | $166M |
| Hospitals | Health & hospitals | $157M | — | $157M |
| Transit | Transportation | $126M | — | $126M |
| Judicial & legal | General government | $109M | $7.6M | $117M |
Nominal dollars. The Census Bureau cautions that single-government series are edited only for aggregates — read direction, not decimals.
Revenue
+0% over 2 yrs
$5.64B → $5.64B
Spending
+18% over 2 yrs
$5.47B → $6.46B
Debt outstanding
+16% over 2 yrs
$9.48B → $11.0B
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 | Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County | Cohort median | Percentile | Higher means |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spending per resident | $9,448 | $3,741 | 92nd | more spent per resident |
| Revenue per resident | $8,257 | $3,548 | 89th | more raised per resident |
| Taxes per resident | $3,089 | $1,328 | 87th | heavier own-tax load |
| Debt per resident | $16,121 | $3,865 | 94th | more borrowed per resident |
| Own-source share of revenue | 77% | 81% | 39th | less dependent on aid |
| Federal aid share of revenue | 6% | 7% | 46th | more exposed to federal cuts |
| Capital share of spending | 18% | 18% | 50th | more building, less operating |
| Interest share of spending | 3% | 4% | 46th | more spend servicing debt |
| Debt ÷ annual revenue | 1.95× | 1.05× | 94th | more leveraged |
Spot an error, or know a better source for this place's adopted budget? Suggest an edit on the assessment.
Adopted budget · FY2026
Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County'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 58 departments.
Looking for how this fits Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County's capacity to deliver? The fiscal dimension, binding constraint, and pathways live in the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County capacity assessment.
The Civic Infrastructure Diagnostic Framework’s structural elements — the four cluster labels, the six capacity dimensions, and the binding-constraint framing — are licensed under CC BY 4.0. Anyone may use or adapt them with attribution. Tool implementation and full article text © 2026 JTV Advisory LLC.