Orivian

Brush · FY2021 municipal finance benchmarks

Morgan County · Eastern Plains · statutory city · Pop. 5,337 (2025 estimate); FY2021 per-resident figures use 5,256 · Census finance data FY2016, FY2018, FY2019, FY2020, FY2021, FY2022

You’re viewing FY2021. See the latest view (FY2022). Latest Census Bureau finance data for Brush: FY2022. Retrieved Oct 2026. Newer years are added when the Census Bureau publishes them. Why the lag?

City website (opens in a new tab)

Compare

FY2021 in brief

Brush collected $2,212 per resident (including city-run utilities), 11% below the median of the 227 Colorado municipalities reporting that year, 44% below its peers. Tax revenue per resident sits 17% above its peers, but 18% below the state median. Debt per resident runs 50% below peers.

Generated from the figures below. Every number links to its Census source.

Compared with

Nearest on population, household income and region

FY2021 headline figures

Revenue per resident (definition)

$2,212
44% below peers
Includes city-owned utilities
Peer median
$3,957
CO median · 227 with a published figure
$2,476
Position
Higher than 40% of the 227 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars
+6.0%/yr
How Colorado compares on revenue per resident

Expenditures per resident (definition)

$1,847
46% below peers
Includes city-owned utilities
Peer median
$3,440
CO median · 220 with a published figure
$2,208
Position
Higher than 40% of the 220 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars
−1.0%/yr

Tax revenue per resident (definition)

$879
17% above peers
Peer median
$748
CO median · 201 with a published figure
$1,072
Position
Higher than 37% of the 201 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars
+9.3%/yr

Debt per resident (definition)

$986
50% below peers
Peer median
$1,991
CO median · 199 with a published figure
$1,411
Position
Higher than 38% of the 199 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars
−6.1%/yr
How Colorado compares on debt per resident

How this number was calculated

Revenue per resident · $2,212
Reported by the city to the Census Bureau

  1. 1Metric

    $2,212 Total revenue divided by population

    = Total revenue ÷ population

    Full definition: Revenue per resident

  2. 2Inputs

    Total revenue $11.6M ÷ population 5,256 (2021 estimate)

  3. 3Census line items

    • A01 Airport charges
    • A03 Commercial activities (other) charges
    • A61 Parks & recreation charges
    • A80 Sewer charges
    • A81 Solid waste charges
    • A91 Water utility charges
    • C89 State aid
    • D89 Local government aid
    • T01 Property tax
    • T09 General sales tax
    • T20 Licenses & permits
    • T24 Licenses & permits
    • T28 Licenses & permits
    • U01 Special assessments
    • U11 Sale of property
    • U20 Interest earnings
    • U30 Fines & forfeits
    • U40 Rents
    • U50 Private donations
    • U99 Miscellaneous

  4. 4Source file

What the numbers mean

  • Brush runs city-owned utilities, which add 15.5% of its revenue. Cities that don't run utilities will look lower on revenue and spending per resident for that reason alone. What counts as utility revenue

Where the money comes from and where it goes

Per resident, FY2021. Bars show Brush; the gold tick is the peer median. How categories work

The biggest difference from peers is Utilities & environment: $792 per resident, 37% below the peer median. On the revenue side, utility & transit charges is 83% below peers.

Money in

Revenue

$2,212
per resident44% below peers
Money in: Brush revenue per resident by category, FY2021, against the peer median. Open a category for its lines and Census item codes.
CategoryPer residentvs peers
$64227% abovepeers $505
$632in line withpeers $632
$34383% belowpeers $2,036
$21222% belowpeers $273
$16984% abovepeers $92
$13663% belowpeers $368
$7727% abovepeers $61
Peer median of 5 peers · Colorado median of 227 reporting

Money out

Spending

$1,847
per resident46% below peers
Money out: Brush spending per resident by category, FY2021, against the peer median. Open a category for its lines and Census item codes.
CategoryPer residentvs peers
$79237% belowpeers $1,251
$34310% abovepeers $313
$248in line withpeers $260
$22052% belowpeers $457
$17825% abovepeers $142
$3547% belowpeers $66
$30No peer comparisonpeers $0
$199% belowpeers $79
Peer median of 5 peers · Colorado median of 220 reporting

Brush and its peers

The five Colorado municipalities nearest on population, median household income and region. Budget size isn’t a matching factor, so peers aren’t chosen on the figures being compared. Per resident, FY2021. How peers are chosen

Open in Compare
Brush compared with its peer municipalities, FY2021, per resident
MunicipalityRevenueExpendituresTax revenueSales taxDebt
BrushUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 15.5% of total revenue in FY2021. Revenue and spending per resident include them, so cities that run their own utilities read higher than cities that don't.$2,212$1,847$879$632$986
La JuntaUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 51.3% of total revenue in FY2021. Revenue and spending per resident include them, so cities that run their own utilities read higher than cities that don't.$3,970$4,386$748$646$2,418
YumaUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 35.7% of total revenue in FY2021. Revenue and spending per resident include them, so cities that run their own utilities read higher than cities that don't.$3,090$2,781$913$647Not reported for this year
BurlingtonUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 53.9% of total revenue in FY2021. Revenue and spending per resident include them, so cities that run their own utilities read higher than cities that don't.$3,957$3,489$750$524$1,564
LamarUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 50.1% of total revenue in FY2021. Revenue and spending per resident include them, so cities that run their own utilities read higher than cities that don't.$4,702$3,440$747$632$1,553
Rocky FordUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 22.8% of total revenue in FY2021. Revenue and spending per resident include them, so cities that run their own utilities read higher than cities that don't.$1,354$1,928$515$352$3,549
Peer median$3,957$3,440$748$632$1,991

Utilities marks a municipality whose revenue and spending include city-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit), which raises its per-resident totals.

Trends

Every available fiscal year. Lines break where a year is missing or withheld; nothing is interpolated.

  • This city
  • Peer median
  • Withheld (shown on the axis, no value)
  • Colorado median (Census of Governments years only)
Revenue per resident
FY2016 $1,652 to FY2022 $2,216.$0$2.1K$4.3K’16’18’19’20’21’22Peer median FY2016: $3,372Peer median FY2018: $2,195Peer median FY2019: $2,963Peer median FY2020: $3,701Peer median FY2021: $3,957Peer median FY2022: $4,264Colorado median FY2016: $1,746 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $2,476 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2016: $1,652FY2018: $2,043FY2019: $1,901FY2020: $2,052FY2021: $2,212FY2022: $2,216

Fiscal year · nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation

Peer group changed in FY2018, FY2020, FY2021, FY2022. Peers are matched each year, so the peer median can step when the group changes.

Show data table
Revenue per resident by fiscal year
YearThis cityPeer medianColorado median
FY2016$1,652$3,372$1,746 (224 reporting)
FY2018$2,043$2,195$2,529 (75 reporting, sample year)
FY2019$1,901$2,963$2,694 (73 reporting, sample year)
FY2020$2,052$3,701$2,739 (76 reporting, sample year)
FY2021$2,212$3,957$2,476 (227 reporting)
FY2022$2,216$4,264$3,031 (72 reporting, sample year)
Expenditures per resident
FY2016 $1,940 to FY2022 $2,019.$0$1.7K$3.5K’16’18’19’20’21’22Peer median FY2016: $3,242Peer median FY2018: $1,901Peer median FY2019: $3,467Peer median FY2020: $3,450Peer median FY2021: $3,440Peer median FY2022: $3,296Colorado median FY2016: $1,749 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $2,208 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2016: $1,940FY2018: $1,828FY2019: $1,458FY2020: $1,840FY2021: $1,847FY2022: $2,019. Excludes equipment purchases and payments to other governments, which Census stopped reporting after FY2021.

Fiscal year · nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation

Census definition change: Excludes equipment purchases and payments to other governments, which Census stopped reporting after FY2021.

Peer group changed in FY2018, FY2019, FY2020, FY2021, FY2022, the same year as the census definition change. Peers are matched each year, so the peer median can step when the group changes.

Show data table
Expenditures per resident by fiscal year
YearThis cityPeer medianColorado median
FY2016$1,940$3,242$1,749 (196 reporting)
FY2018$1,828$1,901$2,387 (74 reporting, sample year)
FY2019$1,458$3,467$2,759 (71 reporting, sample year)
FY2020$1,840$3,450$2,485 (74 reporting, sample year)
FY2021$1,847$3,440$2,208 (220 reporting)
FY2022$2,019$3,296$3,025 (71 reporting, sample year)
Tax revenue per resident
FY2016 $564 to FY2022 $862.$0$536$1.1K’16’18’19’20’21’22Peer median FY2016: $604Peer median FY2018: $712Peer median FY2019: $898Peer median FY2020: $591Peer median FY2021: $748Peer median FY2022: $804Colorado median FY2016: $705 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $1,072 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2016: $564FY2018: $602FY2019: $785FY2020: $764FY2021: $879FY2022: $862

Fiscal year · nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation

Peer group changed in FY2018, FY2019, FY2020, FY2021, FY2022. Peers are matched each year, so the peer median can step when the group changes.

Show data table
Tax revenue per resident by fiscal year
YearThis cityPeer medianColorado median
FY2016$564$604$705 (193 reporting)
FY2018$602$712$1,173 (70 reporting, sample year)
FY2019$785$898$1,187 (71 reporting, sample year)
FY2020$764$591$1,238 (72 reporting, sample year)
FY2021$879$748$1,072 (201 reporting)
FY2022$862$804$1,631 (71 reporting, sample year)
Debt per resident
FY2016 $1,351 to FY2022 $972.$0$995.5$2K’16’18’19’20’21’22Peer median FY2016: $1,926Peer median FY2018: $641Peer median FY2019: $1,870Peer median FY2020: $1,567Peer median FY2021: $1,991Peer median FY2022: $1,170Colorado median FY2016: $1,072 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $1,411 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2016: $1,351FY2018: $1,207FY2019: $1,124FY2020: $1,164FY2021: $986FY2022: $972

Fiscal year · nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation

Peer group changed in FY2018, FY2019, FY2020, FY2021, FY2022. Peers are matched each year, so the peer median can step when the group changes.

Show data table
Debt per resident by fiscal year
YearThis cityPeer medianColorado median
FY2016$1,351$1,926$1,072 (220 reporting)
FY2018$1,207$641$1,644 (70 reporting, sample year)
FY2019$1,124$1,870$1,627 (69 reporting, sample year)
FY2020$1,164$1,567$1,798 (71 reporting, sample year)
FY2021$986$1,991$1,411 (199 reporting)
FY2022$972$1,170$2,068 (73 reporting, sample year)

Questions about Brush’s finances

How much revenue does Brush collect per resident?
Brush collected $2,212 per resident in FY2021, 11% below the median of the 227 Colorado municipalities reporting that year. See the figure
How does Brush's spending per resident compare with similar cities?
Brush spent $1,847 per resident in FY2021, 46% below the median of its peers: La Junta, Yuma, Burlington, Lamar and Rocky Ford. See the figure
How much debt does Brush have per resident?
Brush carried $986 of debt per resident in FY2021, 50% below its peers' median. See the figure
Which cities is Brush compared with?
Brush is compared with La Junta, Yuma, Burlington, Lamar and Rocky Ford: the Colorado municipalities nearest to it on population, median household income and region. Budget size isn't used, so peers aren't chosen on the figures being compared. See the peer table
Where do these numbers come from?
From the U.S. Census Bureau's Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances, as each government reported its own fiscal year, divided by Census population estimates. Figures that fail quality checks are withheld rather than shown. Sources and methodology

Community context

American Community Survey 5-year estimates and Census population estimates. Where the selected year isn’t available, the nearest earlier year is shown and labeled.

Population growth (5-yr)
−0.5%/yr
2021 estimate
Median household income
$61.8K
2021 estimate
Poverty rate
13.9%
2021 estimate
Median home value
$205.2K
2021 estimate
Housing vacancy rate
10.6%
2021 estimate

Explore further

Also in Eastern Plains

Revenue per resident, latest published year.

Sources

Dataset: Brush, CO municipal finance benchmarks

Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (opens in a new tab). Please credit “Source: Orivian Municipal Index, orivian.ai/benchmarks”. See the data use terms.

Notes: dollars are nominal (not inflation-adjusted). Colorado medians cover the municipalities reporting that year. Peers: nearest on population, income and region. Definitions: orivian.ai/benchmarks/methodology.Retrieved October 12, 2026 from orivian.ai/benchmarks.

Every figure on this page is read from the published index; nothing is recalculated for display. Read the methodology

Utilities & environment is Brush’s largest difference from its peers (37% below the peer median in FY2021). See how that line moves month to month in your own budget-vs-actual.

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