Budget Explorer · City of Omaha

Where the money comes from, and where it goes

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

Audited actuals · Census classification · 485K residents

At a glance

Total revenue

$942M

$1,941 per resident

Total spending

$1.03B

$2,118 per resident

Spending per resident

$2,118

12th percentile of 71

Debt outstanding

$1.48B

$3,051 per resident · 36th percentile of 70

Own-source share

89%

81st percentile of 71

Capital share

28%

84th percentile of 71

Where the money comes from

$942M 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$222M24%
General sales tax$206M22%
Selective sales taxes$4.5M0%
License & other taxes$103M11%
State & local aid$103M11%
Charges & fees$281M30%
Interest, fines, other$22M2%

Own-source share of general revenue 89% · federal aid 0% · property tax is 41% of taxes

Where it goes

$1.03B 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$277M27%
Environment & housing$274M27%
Transportation$204M20%
General government$143M14%
Culture & recreation$62M6%
Interest on debt$42M4%
Transfers to other governments$25M2%

Show top functions with operating vs. capital ▸

Function	Category	Operating	Capital	Total
Sewerage	Environment & housing	$74M	$165M	$239M
Highways	Transportation	$85M	$91M	$176M
Police protection	Public safety	$171M	$4.0M	$175M
General (unallocable)	General government	$103M	—	$103M
Fire protection	Public safety	$101M	$1.2M	$102M
Parks & recreation	Culture & recreation	$42M	$191K	$42M
Solid waste management	Environment & housing	$35M	—	$35M
Parking	Transportation	$13M	$16M	$28M
General public buildings	General government	$7.1M	$15M	$22M
Libraries	Culture & recreation	$20M	$47K	$20M
Central staff services	General government	$12M	—	$12M
Judicial & legal	General government	$5.7M	$38K	$5.8M

Trend · 3 fiscal years

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

Revenue

+8% over 2 yrs

$872M → $942M

Spending

+22% over 2 yrs

$841M → $1.03B

Debt outstanding

+4% over 2 yrs

$1.43B → $1.48B

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 Omaha	Cohort median	Percentile	Higher means
Spending per resident	$2,118	$3,741	12th	more spent per resident
Revenue per resident	$1,941	$3,548	5th	more raised per resident
Taxes per resident	$1,105	$1,328	33rd	heavier own-tax load
Debt per resident	$3,051	$3,865	36th	more borrowed per resident
Own-source share of revenue	89%	81%	81st	less dependent on aid
Federal aid share of revenue	0%	7%	4th	more exposed to federal cuts
Capital share of spending	28%	18%	84th	more building, less operating
Interest share of spending	4%	4%	54th	more spend servicing debt
Debt ÷ annual revenue	1.57×	1.05×	75th	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 312055208698 (Omaha 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 Omaha'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 17 departments.

$1.80B total

Public Works$984M55%
Police$233M13%
Fire$168M9%
Other Budgetary Accounts - Debt Service$162M9%
Other Budgetary Accounts - Misc$74M4%
Parks$67M4%
Other Budgetary Accounts - Benefits$29M2%
Library$27M2%
Planning$16M1%
Convention and Tourism$12M1%
Law$6.9M0%
Finance$6.7M0%
All other (5)$12M1%

Parsed from the published budget book (pages 172-173, Schedule E) — operating plus capital appropriations across every fund.
The parsed departments sum exactly to the book's printed combined total of $1,798,162,223.
Omaha's council adopted a 2027 budget in August 2026, but the finance department had published no adopted book for it when this was captured; only a recommended one exists.
The department names sit on the operating page and their combined figures on the facing capital page, in the same order, so the two pages are read together.
Three lines are non-departmental holding accounts: benefits, miscellaneous and debt service.
Omaha's site refuses non-browser clients, so this book is refreshed by hand rather than by the scheduled job.
Omaha budgets on a calendar year.
Source: 2026 Adopted Budget (Summary of Budgetary Appropriations, All Funds) (published budget book), retrieved 2026-09-08. Open the source document.

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