Budget Explorer · City of Sacramento

Where the money comes from, and where it goes

Comparable revenue, spending, and debt for City of Sacramento, 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 Sacramento's own FY2027 budget, in its own structure, follows below.

Audited actuals · Census classification · 528K residents

At a glance

Total revenue

$1.62B

$3,061 per resident

Total spending

$2.19B

$4,146 per resident

Spending per resident

$4,146

56th percentile of 71

Debt outstanding

$1.82B

$3,444 per resident · 39th percentile of 70

Own-source share

88%

80th percentile of 71

Capital share

16%

46th percentile of 71

Where the money comes from

$1.62B 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$244M15%
General sales tax$264M16%
Selective sales taxes$80M5%
License & other taxes$71M4%
Federal aid$92M6%
State & local aid$81M5%
Charges & fees$434M27%
Interest, fines, other$217M13%
Utility revenue$133M8%

Own-source share of general revenue 88% · federal aid 6% · property tax is 37% of taxes

Where it goes

$2.19B 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$526M24%
Public safety$504M23%
Transfers to other governments$294M13%
Environment & housing$288M13%
Transportation$204M9%
Culture & recreation$176M8%
Utilities (water, power, gas)$95M4%
Interest on debt$60M3%
Health & hospitals$36M2%
Public welfare$6.3M0%

Show top functions with operating vs. capital ▸

Function	Category	Operating	Capital	Total
General (unallocable)	General government	$252M	$69M	$321M
Police protection	Public safety	$247M	$27M	$274M
Fire protection	Public safety	$182M	$8.6M	$191M
Highways	Transportation	$36M	$146M	$183M
Central staff services	General government	$175M	—	$175M
Parks & recreation	Culture & recreation	$108M	$40M	$148M
Housing & community development	Environment & housing	$97M	$26M	$124M
Water utility	Utilities (water, power, gas)	$78M	$16M	$95M
Sewerage	Environment & housing	$76M	$16M	$92M
Solid waste management	Environment & housing	$71M	$1.5M	$72M
Protective inspection & regulation	Public safety	$40M	—	$40M
Health	Health & hospitals	$34M	$2.2M	$36M
Libraries	Culture & recreation	$24M	$3.6M	$27M
Parking	Transportation	$20M	$1.3M	$21M

Trend · 3 fiscal years

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

Revenue

+4% over 2 yrs

$1.55B → $1.62B

Spending

+13% over 2 yrs

$1.94B → $2.19B

Debt outstanding

-9% over 2 yrs

$1.99B → $1.82B

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 Sacramento	Cohort median	Percentile	Higher means
Spending per resident	$4,146	$3,741	56th	more spent per resident
Revenue per resident	$3,061	$3,548	35th	more raised per resident
Taxes per resident	$1,248	$1,328	43rd	heavier own-tax load
Debt per resident	$3,444	$3,865	39th	more borrowed per resident
Own-source share of revenue	88%	81%	80th	less dependent on aid
Federal aid share of revenue	6%	7%	44th	more exposed to federal cuts
Capital share of spending	16%	18%	46th	more building, less operating
Interest share of spending	3%	4%	27th	more spend servicing debt
Debt ÷ annual revenue	1.13×	1.05×	58th	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 062067161241 (Sacramento 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.

Approved budget · FY2027

City of Sacramento's own budget, in its own structure, from its open-data portal. This is the current year — more recent than the Census series above, but only comparable to this city's own history. Totals cover 21 departments.

$1.60B total

Public Works$273M17%
Police$256M16%
Fire$231M14%
Utilities$193M12%
Citywide and Community Support$162M10%
Debt Service$103M6%
Human Resources$89M6%
Youth, Parks, and Community Enrichment$69M4%
Community Development$64M4%
Community Response$38M2%
Convention and Cultural Services$37M2%
Information Technology$36M2%
All other (9)$49M3%

The dataset carries only approved budgets — Sacramento does not publish its proposed budget here.
Expenditure rows only; the revenue rows in the same dataset are excluded.
Contra-expense lines such as labour offsets are negative and are kept, because dropping them would overstate spending.
Source: City of Sacramento Approved Budgets (arcgis open data), retrieved 2026-09-08. Re-run this query.

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