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Empire · FY2016 municipal finance benchmarks

Clear Creek County · Central Mountains & Resort · statutory town · Pop. 317 (2025 estimate); FY2016 per-resident figures use 295 · Census finance data FY2016, FY2021

You’re viewing FY2016. See the latest view (FY2021). Latest Census Bureau finance data for Empire: 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

Tax revenue per resident sits 33% below its peers, and 45% below the state median. Debt per resident runs 54% below peers.

  • Revenue per resident withheld: Revenue per resident is 15% of the peer median

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)

Peer median
Benchmark unavailable
CO median · 224 with a published figure
$1,746
Position
Not reported for this year
5-year changenominal dollars
Withheld with this year's value
How Colorado compares on revenue per resident

Expenditures per resident (definition)

$1,031
in line with peers
Peer median
$1,078
CO median · 196 with a published figure
$1,749
Position
Higher than 23% of the 196 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars
Not enough history for a 5-year change

Tax revenue per resident (definition)

$390
33% below peers
Peer median
$581
CO median · 193 with a published figure
$705
Position
Higher than 29% of the 193 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars
Not enough history for a 5-year change

Debt per resident (definition)

$1,258
54% below peers
Peer median
$2,733
CO median · 220 with a published figure
$1,072
Position
Higher than 57% 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 ·
Withheld pending verification

  1. 1Withheld

    Revenue per resident is 15% of the peer median It stays withheld until it is verified against Empire’s audited financial report.

  2. 2Census line items

    • B46 Federal aid
    • D46 Local government aid
    • T01 Property tax
    • T09 General sales tax
    • T15 Selective sales taxes (lodging, utilities, etc.)
    • T20 Licenses & permits
    • T24 Licenses & permits
    • T28 Licenses & permits
    • U40 Rents
    • U50 Private donations

  3. 3Source file

What the numbers mean

  • With about 295 residents, small changes in Empire's budget move per-resident figures a lot. Compare several years, not one.

Where the money comes from and where it goes

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

The biggest difference from peers is Utilities & environment: $763 per resident, 2.0× the peer median.

Money in

Revenue

Categories are withheld with the total until it is verified against Empire’s audited financial report.

Peer median of 4 peers · Colorado median of 224 reporting

Money out

Spending

$1,031
per residentin line with peers
Money out: Empire spending per resident by category, FY2016, against the peer median. Open a category for its lines and Census item codes.
CategoryPer residentvs peers
$7632.0×peers $374
$13268% belowpeers $412
$5418% belowpeers $66
$44No peer comparisonpeers $0
$3746% belowpeers $69
None reported · peers $14$0None reported
Peer median of 3 peers · Colorado median of 196 reporting

Empire 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
Empire compared with its peer municipalities, FY2016, per resident
MunicipalityRevenueExpendituresTax revenueSales taxDebt
Empire$1,031$390$244$1,258
Alma$2,823
Red CliffUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 53.7% 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.$1,882$972$581$2,644
CreedeUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 18.2% 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.$3,786$1,078$751$3,320
DinosaurUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 7.4% 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.$3,192$1,979$378$210$640
Peer medianBenchmark unavailable$1,078$581$751$2,733

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
FY2021 $3,292. 1 year withheld.$0$1.6K$3.3K’16’21Peer median FY2021: $2,972Colorado median FY2016: $1,746 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $2,476 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2021: $3,292FY2016: withheld — Revenue per resident is 15% of the peer median

Fiscal year · nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation

  • FY2016 withheld: Revenue per resident is 15% of the peer median
Show data table
Revenue per resident by fiscal year
YearThis cityPeer medianColorado median
FY2016Withheld (Revenue per resident is 15% of the peer median)Benchmark unavailable$1,746 (224 reporting)
FY2021$3,292$2,972$2,476 (227 reporting)
Expenditures per resident
FY2016 $1,031 to FY2021 $2,484.$0$1.2K$2.5K’16’21Peer median FY2016: $1,078Peer median FY2021: $1,640Colorado median FY2016: $1,749 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $2,208 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2016: $1,031FY2021: $2,484

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$1,031$1,078$1,749 (196 reporting)
FY2021$2,484$1,640$2,208 (220 reporting)
Tax revenue per resident
FY2016 $390 to FY2021 $1,245.$0$622.4$1.2K’16’21Peer median FY2016: $581Peer median FY2021: $1,189Colorado median FY2016: $705 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $1,072 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2016: $390FY2021: $1,245

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$390$581$705 (193 reporting)
FY2021$1,245$1,189$1,072 (201 reporting)
Debt per resident
FY2016 $1,258.$0$1.4K$2.7K’16’21Peer median FY2016: $2,733Colorado median FY2016: $1,072 (all 224 municipalities reporting)FY2016: $1,258

Fiscal year · nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation

Show data table
Debt per resident by fiscal year
YearThis cityPeer medianColorado median
FY2016$1,258$2,733$1,072 (220 reporting)
FY2021———

Questions about Empire’s finances

How does Empire's spending per resident compare with similar cities?
Empire spent $1,031 per resident in FY2016, in line with the median of its peers: Alma, Red Cliff, Creede and Dinosaur. See the figure
How much debt does Empire have per resident?
Empire carried $1,258 of debt per resident in FY2016, 54% below its peers' median. See the figure
Which cities is Empire compared with?
Empire is compared with Alma, Red Cliff, Creede and Dinosaur: 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)
+1.0%/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 Central Mountains & Resort

Revenue per resident, latest published year.

Sources

Dataset: Empire, 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 Empire’s largest difference from its peers (2.0× 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.

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