Orivian

Carbondale · FY2016 municipal finance benchmarks

Garfield County · Western Slope · home rule municipality · Pop. 6,762 (2025 estimate); FY2016 per-resident figures use 6,618 · Census finance data FY2016, FY2021

You’re viewing FY2016. See the latest view (FY2021). Latest Census Bureau finance data for Carbondale: FY2021. Retrieved Oct 2026. Newer years are added when the Census Bureau publishes them. Why the lag?

City website (opens in a new tab)

Compare

FY2016 in brief

Carbondale collected $1,433 per resident (including city-run utilities), 18% below the median of the 224 Colorado municipalities reporting that year, 45% below its peers. Tax revenue per resident sits 60% below its peers, but 18% above the state median. Debt per resident runs 43% below peers.

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

Compared with

Nearest on population, household income and region

FY2016 headline figures

Revenue per resident (definition)

$1,433
45% below peers
Includes city-owned utilities
Peer median
$2,617
CO median · 224 with a published figure
$1,746
Position
Higher than 41% of the 224 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars
Not enough history for a 5-year change
How Colorado compares on revenue per resident

Expenditures per resident (definition)

$1,476
25% below peers
Includes city-owned utilities
Peer median
$1,973
CO median · 196 with a published figure
$1,749
Position
Higher than 41% of the 196 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars
Not enough history for a 5-year change

Tax revenue per resident (definition)

$834
60% below peers
Peer median
$2,097
CO median · 193 with a published figure
$705
Position
Higher than 63% of the 193 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars
Not enough history for a 5-year change

Debt per resident (definition)

$755
43% below peers
Peer median
$1,318
CO median · 220 with a published figure
$1,072
Position
Higher than 39% of the 220 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars
Not enough history for a 5-year change
How Colorado compares on debt per resident

How this number was calculated

Revenue per resident · $1,433
Reported by the city to the Census Bureau

  1. 1Metric

    $1,433 Total revenue divided by population

    = Total revenue ÷ population

    Full definition: Revenue per resident

  2. 2Inputs

    Total revenue $9.5M ÷ population 6,618 (2016 estimate)

  3. 3Census line items

    • A03 Commercial activities (other) charges
    • A61 Parks & recreation charges
    • A80 Sewer charges
    • A89 General government (other) charges
    • A91 Water utility charges
    • B46 Federal aid
    • C30 State aid
    • C46 State aid
    • C89 State aid
    • D91 Local government aid
    • T01 Property tax
    • T09 General sales tax
    • T19 Selective sales taxes (lodging, utilities, etc.)
    • T20 Licenses & permits
    • T28 Licenses & permits
    • T29 Licenses & permits
    • U20 Interest earnings
    • U30 Fines & forfeits
    • U40 Rents
    • U50 Private donations
    • U99 Miscellaneous

  4. 4Source file

What the numbers mean

  • Carbondale runs city-owned utilities, which add 13.1% 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
  • Carbondale relies on sales tax more than most Colorado municipalities. Tourism and regional retail can raise sales tax per resident because non-residents pay it.

Where the money comes from and where it goes

Per resident, FY2016. Bars show Carbondale; the gold tick is the peer median. How categories work

The biggest difference from peers is General government: $201 per resident, 78% below the peer median. On the revenue side, sales tax is 40% below peers.

Money in

Revenue

$1,433
per resident45% below peers
Money in: Carbondale revenue per resident by category, FY2016, against the peer median. Open a category for its lines and Census item codes.
CategoryPer residentvs peers
$72440% belowpeers $1,213
$22443% belowpeers $396
$18720% belowpeers $233
$14233% belowpeers $211
$6983% belowpeers $420
$4690% belowpeers $476
$4191% belowpeers $464
Peer median of 5 peers · Colorado median of 224 reporting

Money out

Spending

$1,476
per resident25% below peers
Money out: Carbondale spending per resident by category, FY2016, against the peer median. Open a category for its lines and Census item codes.
CategoryPer residentvs peers
$57854% abovepeers $375
$306in line withpeers $296
$27821% belowpeers $353
$20178% belowpeers $910
$705.4×peers $13
$326% belowpeers $34
$9No peer comparisonpeers $0
Peer median of 3 peers · Colorado median of 196 reporting

Carbondale 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, FY2016. How peers are chosen

Open in Compare
Carbondale compared with its peer municipalities, FY2016, per resident
MunicipalityRevenueExpendituresTax revenueSales taxDebt
CarbondaleUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 13.1% of total revenue in FY2016. Revenue and spending per resident include them, so cities that run their own utilities read higher than cities that don't.$1,433$1,476$834$724$755
AvonUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 0.0% of total revenue in FY2016. Revenue and spending per resident include them, so cities that run their own utilities read higher than cities that don't.Regional hub: Sales tax per resident is 2.2× the Colorado median.$2,608$1,973$2,097$1,213$867
AspenUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 14.5% of total revenue in FY2016. Revenue and spending per resident include them, so cities that run their own utilities read higher than cities that don't.Regional hub: Sales tax per resident is 7.1× the Colorado median.$13,061$7,256$3,945$7,026
GypsumUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 12.9% of total revenue in FY2016. Revenue and spending per resident include them, so cities that run their own utilities read higher than cities that don't.$1,811$1,473$1,008$732$994
VailRegional hub: Sales tax per resident is 8.1× the Colorado median.$12,950$9,282$4,488$1,643
RifleUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 11.9% of total revenue in FY2016. Revenue and spending per resident include them, so cities that run their own utilities read higher than cities that don't.Regional hub: Sales tax per resident is 1.9× the Colorado median.$2,617$2,402$1,221$1,051Not reported for this year
Peer median$2,617$1,973$2,097$1,213$1,318

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

Regional hub marks a municipality whose sales tax per resident is at least 1.5× the Colorado median: a shopping or visitor hub where people who live elsewhere pay much of the sales tax.

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 $1,433 to FY2021 $2,814.$0$1.7K$3.3K’16’21Peer median FY2016: $2,617Peer median FY2021: $3,323Colorado median FY2016: $1,746 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $2,476 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2016: $1,433FY2021: $2,814

Fiscal year · nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation

Peer group changed in FY2021. 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$1,433$2,617$1,746 (224 reporting)
FY2021$2,814$3,323$2,476 (227 reporting)
Expenditures per resident
FY2016 $1,476 to FY2021 $2,114.$0$1.3K$2.6K’16’21Peer median FY2016: $1,973Peer median FY2021: $2,611Colorado median FY2016: $1,749 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $2,208 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2016: $1,476FY2021: $2,114

Fiscal year · nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation

Peer group changed in FY2021. 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$1,476$1,973$1,749 (196 reporting)
FY2021$2,114$2,611$2,208 (220 reporting)
Tax revenue per resident
FY2016 $834 to FY2021 $1,751.$0$1K$2.1K’16’21Peer median FY2016: $2,097Peer median FY2021: $1,688Colorado median FY2016: $705 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $1,072 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2016: $834FY2021: $1,751

Fiscal year · nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation

Peer group changed in FY2021. 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$834$2,097$705 (193 reporting)
FY2021$1,751$1,688$1,072 (201 reporting)
Debt per resident
FY2016 $755 to FY2021 $90.$0$1.7K$3.3K’16’21Peer median FY2016: $1,318Peer median FY2021: $3,314Colorado median FY2016: $1,072 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $1,411 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2016: $755FY2021: $90

Fiscal year · nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation

Peer group changed in FY2021. 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$755$1,318$1,072 (220 reporting)
FY2021$90$3,314$1,411 (199 reporting)

Questions about Carbondale’s finances

How much revenue does Carbondale collect per resident?
Carbondale collected $1,433 per resident in FY2016, 18% below the median of the 224 Colorado municipalities reporting that year. See the figure
How does Carbondale's spending per resident compare with similar cities?
Carbondale spent $1,476 per resident in FY2016, 25% below the median of its peers: Avon, Aspen, Gypsum, Vail and Rifle. See the figure
How much debt does Carbondale have per resident?
Carbondale carried $755 of debt per resident in FY2016, 43% below its peers' median. See the figure
Which cities is Carbondale compared with?
Carbondale is compared with Avon, Aspen, Gypsum, Vail and Rifle: 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)
+0.7%/yr
2016 estimate
Median household income
Not reported for this year
Poverty rate
Not reported for this year
Median home value
Not reported for this year
Housing vacancy rate
Not reported for this year

Explore further

Also in Western Slope

Revenue per resident, latest published year.

Sources

Dataset: Carbondale, 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

General government is Carbondale’s largest difference from its peers (78% below the peer median in FY2016). See how that line moves month to month in your own budget-vs-actual.

Orivian applies the same sourced, governed approach to your city's own budget-vs-actual data.

See how it worksTalk to us
Book a walkthrough