Orivian

Fountain · FY2023 municipal finance benchmarks

El Paso County · Pikes Peak · home rule municipality · Pop. 29,450 (2025 estimate); FY2023 per-resident figures use 28,545 · Census finance data FY2016, FY2018, FY2019, FY2020, FY2021, FY2022, FY2023

Latest Census Bureau finance data for Fountain: FY2023. Retrieved Oct 2026. Newer years are added when the Census Bureau publishes them. Why the lag?

City website (opens in a new tab)

Compare

FY2023 in brief

Fountain collected $3,389 per resident (including city-run utilities), 5% below the median of the 97 Colorado municipalities reporting that year, 43% above its peers. Tax revenue per resident sits 15% below its peers, and 33% below the state median. Debt per resident runs 2.1× peers.

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

Compared with

Nearest on population, household income and region

FY2023 headline figures

Revenue per resident (definition)

$3,389
43% above peers
Includes city-owned utilities
Peer median
$2,368
CO median · 97 with a published figure
$3,580
Position
Higher than 45% of the 97 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars
+7.2%/yr
How Colorado compares on revenue per resident

Expenditures per resident (definition)

$2,981
36% above peers
Includes city-owned utilities
Peer median
$2,189
CO median · 91 with a published figure
$3,680
Position
Higher than 39% of the 91 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars
+4.2%/yr

Tax revenue per resident (definition)

$1,156
15% below peers
Peer median
$1,368
CO median · 90 with a published figure
$1,726
Position
Higher than 28% of the 90 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars
+7.2%/yr

Debt per resident (definition)

$3,660
2.1× peers
Peer median
$1,724
CO median · 91 with a published figure
$2,130
Position
Higher than 70% of the 91 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars
+2.3%/yr
How Colorado compares on debt per resident

How this number was calculated

Revenue per resident · $3,389
Reported by the city to the Census Bureau

  1. 1Metric

    $3,389 Total revenue divided by population

    = Total revenue ÷ population

    Full definition: Revenue per resident

  2. 2Inputs

    Total revenue $96.7M ÷ population 28,545 (2023 estimate)

  3. 3Census line items

    • A03 Commercial activities (other) charges
    • A50 Housing & community development charges
    • A59 Natural resources charges
    • A61 Parks & recreation charges
    • A89 General government (other) charges
    • A91 Water utility charges
    • A92 Electric utility charges
    • A94 Transit charges
    • B89 Federal aid
    • C89 State aid
    • D89 Local government aid
    • T01 Property tax
    • T09 General sales tax
    • T15 Selective sales taxes (lodging, utilities, etc.)
    • T19 Selective sales taxes (lodging, utilities, etc.)
    • T28 Licenses & permits
    • T29 Licenses & permits
    • U01 Special assessments
    • U20 Interest earnings
    • U30 Fines & forfeits
    • U40 Rents
    • U99 Miscellaneous

  4. 4Source file

What the numbers mean

  • Fountain runs city-owned utilities, which add 46.4% 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
  • Debt per resident is 2.1× the peer median. One large bond issue can do this; check the city's annual financial report for what it funded.

Where the money comes from and where it goes

Per resident, FY2023. Bars show Fountain; the gold tick is the peer median. How categories work

The biggest difference from peers is Utilities & environment: $1,354 per resident, 81% above the peer median. On the revenue side, utility & transit charges is 4.4× peers.

Money in

Revenue

$3,389
per resident43% above peers
Money in: Fountain revenue per resident by category, FY2023, against the peer median. Open a category for its lines and Census item codes.
CategoryPer residentvs peers
$1,5734.4×peers $360
$860in line withpeers $891
$31719% belowpeers $390
$24945% abovepeers $172
$202in line withpeers $197
$9465% belowpeers $264
$9451% belowpeers $190
Peer median of 5 peers · Colorado median of 97 reporting

Money out

Spending

$2,981
per resident36% above peers
Money out: Fountain spending per resident by category, FY2023, against the peer median. Open a category for its lines and Census item codes.
CategoryPer residentvs peers
$1,35481% abovepeers $750
$62717% belowpeers $757
$51914% abovepeers $455
$1742.8×peers $61
$13910% belowpeers $154
$8978% belowpeers $398
$78No peer comparisonpeers $0
$1No peer comparisonpeers $0
Peer median of 5 peers · Colorado median of 91 reporting

Fountain 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, FY2023. How peers are chosen

Open in Compare
Fountain compared with its peer municipalities, FY2023, per resident
MunicipalityRevenueExpendituresTax revenueSales taxDebt
FountainUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 46.4% of total revenue in FY2023. Revenue and spending per resident include them, so cities that run their own utilities read higher than cities that don't.$3,389$2,981$1,156$860$3,660
Wheat Ridge$2,104$2,189$1,495$1,138$1,888
EnglewoodUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 10.6% of total revenue in FY2023. Revenue and spending per resident include them, so cities that run their own utilities read higher than cities that don't.$3,580$3,023$1,813$1,260$1,496
LafayetteUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 18.8% of total revenue in FY2023. Revenue and spending per resident include them, so cities that run their own utilities read higher than cities that don't.$3,162$3,810$1,368$891$1,856
NorthglennUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 11.2% of total revenue in FY2023. Revenue and spending per resident include them, so cities that run their own utilities read higher than cities that don't.$1,826$1,468$1,047$851$266
EvansUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 15.2% of total revenue in FY2023. Revenue and spending per resident include them, so cities that run their own utilities read higher than cities that don't.$2,368$2,002$1,109$876$1,724
Peer median$2,368$2,189$1,368$891$1,724

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 $1,770 to FY2023 $3,389.$0$1.7K$3.4K’16’18’19’20’21’22’23Peer median FY2016: $1,890Peer median FY2018: $2,403Peer median FY2019: $1,787Peer median FY2020: $1,876Peer median FY2021: $2,532Peer median FY2022: $2,721Peer median FY2023: $2,368Colorado median FY2016: $1,746 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $2,476 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2016: $1,770FY2018: $2,394FY2019: $2,118FY2020: $2,402FY2021: $1,228FY2022: $2,896FY2023: $3,389

Fiscal year · nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation

Peer group changed in FY2019, 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$1,770$1,890$1,746 (224 reporting)
FY2018$2,394$2,403$2,529 (75 reporting, sample year)
FY2019$2,118$1,787$2,694 (73 reporting, sample year)
FY2020$2,402$1,876$2,739 (76 reporting, sample year)
FY2021$1,228$2,532$2,476 (227 reporting)
FY2022$2,896$2,721$3,031 (72 reporting, sample year)
FY2023$3,389$2,368$3,580 (97 reporting, sample year)
Expenditures per resident
FY2016 $2,032 to FY2023 $2,981.$0$1.5K$3K’16’18’19’20’21’22’23Peer median FY2016: $1,744Peer median FY2018: $1,921Peer median FY2019: $2,008Peer median FY2020: $2,048Peer median FY2021: $2,021Peer median FY2022: $2,456Peer median FY2023: $2,189Colorado median FY2016: $1,749 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $2,208 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2016: $2,032FY2018: $2,424FY2019: $2,242FY2020: $2,261FY2021: $2,288FY2022: $2,212. Excludes equipment purchases and payments to other governments, which Census stopped reporting after FY2021.FY2023: $2,981. 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 FY2019, 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$2,032$1,744$1,749 (196 reporting)
FY2018$2,424$1,921$2,387 (74 reporting, sample year)
FY2019$2,242$2,008$2,759 (71 reporting, sample year)
FY2020$2,261$2,048$2,485 (74 reporting, sample year)
FY2021$2,288$2,021$2,208 (220 reporting)
FY2022$2,212$2,456$3,025 (71 reporting, sample year)
FY2023$2,981$2,189$3,680 (91 reporting, sample year)
Tax revenue per resident
FY2016 $583 to FY2023 $1,156.$0$684$1.4K’16’18’19’20’21’22’23Peer median FY2016: $913Peer median FY2018: $1,173Peer median FY2019: $1,110Peer median FY2020: $1,172Peer median FY2021: $1,329Peer median FY2022: $1,359Peer median FY2023: $1,368Colorado median FY2016: $705 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $1,072 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2016: $583FY2018: $818FY2019: $808FY2020: $887FY2021: $979FY2022: $1,084FY2023: $1,156

Fiscal year · nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation

Peer group changed in FY2019, 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$583$913$705 (193 reporting)
FY2018$818$1,173$1,173 (70 reporting, sample year)
FY2019$808$1,110$1,187 (71 reporting, sample year)
FY2020$887$1,172$1,238 (72 reporting, sample year)
FY2021$979$1,329$1,072 (201 reporting)
FY2022$1,084$1,359$1,631 (71 reporting, sample year)
FY2023$1,156$1,368$1,726 (90 reporting, sample year)
Debt per resident
FY2016 $1,686 to FY2023 $3,660.$0$2.1K$4.3K’16’18’19’20’21’22’23Peer median FY2016: $1,071Peer median FY2018: $961Peer median FY2019: $1,126Peer median FY2020: $913Peer median FY2021: $2,022Peer median FY2022: $1,829Peer median FY2023: $1,724Colorado median FY2016: $1,072 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $1,411 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2016: $1,686FY2018: $3,263FY2019: $3,275FY2020: $4,122FY2021: $4,141FY2022: $4,295FY2023: $3,660

Fiscal year · nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation

Peer group changed in FY2019, 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$1,686$1,071$1,072 (220 reporting)
FY2018$3,263$961$1,644 (70 reporting, sample year)
FY2019$3,275$1,126$1,627 (69 reporting, sample year)
FY2020$4,122$913$1,798 (71 reporting, sample year)
FY2021$4,141$2,022$1,411 (199 reporting)
FY2022$4,295$1,829$2,068 (73 reporting, sample year)
FY2023$3,660$1,724$2,130 (91 reporting, sample year)

Questions about Fountain’s finances

How much revenue does Fountain collect per resident?
Fountain collected $3,389 per resident in FY2023, 5% below the median of the 97 Colorado municipalities reporting that year. See the figure
How does Fountain's spending per resident compare with similar cities?
Fountain spent $2,981 per resident in FY2023, 36% above the median of its peers: Wheat Ridge, Englewood, Lafayette, Northglenn and Evans. See the figure
How much debt does Fountain have per resident?
Fountain carried $3,660 of debt per resident in FY2023, 2.1× its peers' median. See the figure
Which cities is Fountain compared with?
Fountain is compared with Wheat Ridge, Englewood, Lafayette, Northglenn and Evans: 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)
−1.3%/yr
2023 estimate
Median household income
$85.2K
2023 estimate
Poverty rate
8.7%
2023 estimate
Median home value
$374.6K
2023 estimate
Housing vacancy rate
4.9%
2023 estimate

Explore further

Also in Pikes Peak

Revenue per resident, latest published year.

Sources

Dataset: Fountain, 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 Fountain’s largest difference from its peers (81% above the peer median in FY2023). See how that line moves month to month in your own budget-vs-actual.

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