Budget Explorer · City and County of San Francisco

Where the money comes from, and where it goes

Comparable revenue, spending, and debt for City and County of San Francisco, 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 and County of San Francisco's own FY2028 budget, in its own structure, follows below.

Audited actuals · Census classification · 808K residents

At a glance

Total revenue

$18.2B

$22,501 per resident

Total spending

$22.1B

$27,288 per resident

Spending per resident

$27,288

98th percentile of 71

Debt outstanding

$25.8B

$31,933 per resident · 99th percentile of 70

Own-source share

76%

35th percentile of 71

Capital share

12%

27th percentile of 71

Where the money comes from

$18.2B 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$3.24B18%
General sales tax$510M3%
Selective sales taxes$510M3%
License & other taxes$1.85B10%
Federal aid$932M5%
State & local aid$3.18B17%
Charges & fees$5.20B29%
Interest, fines, other$1.50B8%
Utility revenue$1.28B7%

Own-source share of general revenue 76% · federal aid 6% · property tax is 53% of taxes

Where it goes

$22.1B 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.

Health & hospitals$4.98B23%
General government$4.55B21%
Transportation$4.47B20%
Environment & housing$2.10B10%
Public safety$1.81B8%
Public welfare$1.67B8%
Utilities (water, power, gas)$1.07B5%
Interest on debt$795M4%
Culture & recreation$609M3%
Transfers to other governments$532K0%

Show top functions with operating vs. capital ▸

Function	Category	Operating	Capital	Total
Health	Health & hospitals	$3.50B	$3.6M	$3.50B
General (unallocable)	General government	$3.19B	$300M	$3.49B
Transit	Transportation	$2.26B	$198M	$2.46B
Public welfare	Public welfare	$1.53B	$142M	$1.67B
Hospitals	Health & hospitals	$1.47B	$8.6M	$1.48B
Sewerage	Environment & housing	$380M	$872M	$1.25B
Air transportation	Transportation	$677M	$538M	$1.22B
Police protection	Public safety	$859M	$7.1M	$866M
Housing & community development	Environment & housing	$843M	$6.3M	$849M
Central staff services	General government	$640M	—	$640M
Water utility	Utilities (water, power, gas)	$376M	$228M	$604M
Fire protection	Public safety	$478M	$993K	$479M
Electric utility	Utilities (water, power, gas)	$469M	—	$469M
Highways	Transportation	$240M	$213M	$453M

Trend · 3 fiscal years

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

Revenue

+14% over 2 yrs

$16.0B → $18.2B

Spending

+28% over 2 yrs

$17.3B → $22.1B

Debt outstanding

+12% over 2 yrs

$23.1B → $25.8B

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 and County of San Francisco	Cohort median	Percentile	Higher means
Spending per resident	$27,288	$3,741	98th	more spent per resident
Revenue per resident	$22,501	$3,548	98th	more raised per resident
Taxes per resident	$7,550	$1,328	96th	heavier own-tax load
Debt per resident	$31,933	$3,865	99th	more borrowed per resident
Own-source share of revenue	76%	81%	35th	less dependent on aid
Federal aid share of revenue	6%	7%	39th	more exposed to federal cuts
Capital share of spending	12%	18%	27th	more building, less operating
Interest share of spending	4%	4%	50th	more spend servicing debt
Debt ÷ annual revenue	1.42×	1.05×	71st	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 062075161258 (San Francisco City and County). 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.

Enacted budget · FY2028

City and County of San Francisco'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 52 departments.

$17.2B total

DPH Public Health$3.67B21%
PUC Public Utilities Commsn$2.07B12%
AIR Airport Commission$1.86B11%
MTA Municipal Transprtn Agncy$1.70B10%
HSA Human Services Agency$1.40B8%
POL Police$894M5%
HOM Homelessness Services$759M4%
GEN General City - Unallocated$705M4%
FIR Fire Department$574M3%
CHF Children;Youth & Families$382M2%
SHF Sheriff$342M2%
DPW Public Works$300M2%
All other (40)$2.56B15%

San Francisco adopts a two-year budget; this is the later year of the current pair.
Spending rows only. Capital appears here as project fund categories rather than a separate capital budget.
Source: Budget (socrata open data), retrieved 2026-09-07 · PDDL. Re-run this query.

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