Budget Explorer · City of New Orleans

Where the money comes from, and where it goes

Comparable revenue, spending, and debt for City of New Orleans, 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 Nov 30, 2023. City of New Orleans's own 2026 budget, in its own structure, follows below.

Audited actuals · Census classification · 370K residents

At a glance

Total revenue

$2.49B

$6,740 per resident

Total spending

$2.40B

$6,502 per resident

Spending per resident

$6,502

84th percentile of 71

Debt outstanding

$619M

$1,674 per resident · 15th percentile of 70

Own-source share

59%

9th percentile of 71

Capital share

28%

82nd percentile of 71

Where the money comes from

$2.49B 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$358M14%
General sales tax$290M12%
Selective sales taxes$80M3%
License & other taxes$44M2%
Federal aid$492M20%
State & local aid$484M19%
Charges & fees$538M22%
Interest, fines, other$80M3%
Utility revenue$125M5%

Own-source share of general revenue 59% · federal aid 21% · property tax is 46% of taxes

Where it goes

$2.40B 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$732M30%
Environment & housing$661M27%
Public safety$319M13%
Utilities (water, power, gas)$204M8%
Transportation$185M8%
Interest on debt$116M5%
Health & hospitals$106M4%
Culture & recreation$57M2%
Transfers to other governments$24M1%

Show top functions with operating vs. capital ▸

Function	Category	Operating	Capital	Total
General (unallocable)	General government	$75M	$344M	$419M
Housing & community development	Environment & housing	$281M	$55M	$336M
Sewerage	Environment & housing	$145M	$130M	$275M
Water utility	Utilities (water, power, gas)	$116M	$88M	$204M
Police protection	Public safety	$175M	—	$175M
Air transportation	Transportation	$82M	$57M	$139M
Fire protection	Public safety	$138M	—	$138M
Judicial & legal	General government	$115M	$245K	$115M
Central staff services	General government	$110M	—	$110M
Hospitals	Health & hospitals	$66M	$2.0M	$68M
Solid waste management	Environment & housing	$50M	—	$50M
Highways	Transportation	$47M	—	$47M
Financial administration	General government	$41M	—	$41M
Health	Health & hospitals	$37M	—	$37M

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

$2.24B → $2.49B

Spending

+16% over 2 yrs

$2.08B → $2.40B

Debt outstanding

-48% over 2 yrs

$1.20B → $619M

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 New Orleans	Cohort median	Percentile	Higher means
Spending per resident	$6,502	$3,741	84th	more spent per resident
Revenue per resident	$6,740	$3,548	84th	more raised per resident
Taxes per resident	$2,090	$1,328	77th	heavier own-tax load
Debt per resident	$1,674	$3,865	15th	more borrowed per resident
Own-source share of revenue	59%	81%	9th	less dependent on aid
Federal aid share of revenue	21%	7%	96th	more exposed to federal cuts
Capital share of spending	28%	18%	82nd	more building, less operating
Interest share of spending	5%	4%	63rd	more spend servicing debt
Debt ÷ annual revenue	0.25×	1.05×	4th	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 222071166094 (New Orleans 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 New Orleans'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 41 departments.

$1.59B total

New Orleans Police Department$185M12%
Mayor's Office$182M11%
Intergovernmental$176M11%
Chief Administrative Office - Core$169M11%
New Orleans Fire Department$139M9%
Miscellaneous$126M8%
Office of Housing and Community Development$120M8%
Department of Health$80M5%
Department of Sanitation$70M4%
Criminal Sheriff$52M3%
Department of Finance$45M3%
New Orleans Public Library$35M2%
All other (29)$215M14%

Parsed from the published budget book (pages 124-125) — all funds.
Figures are checked against the total the document itself prints before publishing.
The city's website links only a presentation; the adopted book is published through its budget portal.
Intergovernmental and Miscellaneous are spending categories rather than departments.
Source: 2026 Operating Budget Book — Adopted (Total Expenditures by Department) (published budget book), retrieved 2026-09-13. Open the source document.

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