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La Jara · FY2021 municipal finance benchmarks

Conejos County · San Luis Valley · statutory town · Pop. 708 (2025 estimate); FY2021 per-resident figures use 734 · Census finance data FY2016, FY2021

Latest Census Bureau finance data for La Jara: 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

FY2021 in brief

La Jara collected $1,548 per resident (including city-run utilities), 38% below the median of the 227 Colorado municipalities reporting that year, 22% below its peers. Tax revenue per resident sits 11% below its peers, and 22% below the state median. Debt per resident runs 7% above 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)

$1,548
22% below peers
Includes city-owned utilities
Peer median
$1,972
CO median · 227 with a published figure
$2,476
Position
Higher than 22% of the 227 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars
+7.2%/yr
How Colorado compares on revenue per resident

Expenditures per resident (definition)

$1,020
28% below peers
Includes city-owned utilities
Peer median
$1,423
CO median · 220 with a published figure
$2,208
Position
Higher than 10% of the 220 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars
+13.6%/yr

Tax revenue per resident (definition)

$831
11% below peers
Peer median
$935
CO median · 201 with a published figure
$1,072
Position
Higher than 34% of the 201 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars
+11.8%/yr

Debt per resident (definition)

$789
7% above peers
Peer median
$734
CO median · 199 with a published figure
$1,411
Position
Higher than 31% of the 199 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars
−4.2%/yr
How Colorado compares on debt per resident

How this number was calculated

Revenue per resident · $1,548
Reported by the city to the Census Bureau

  1. 1Metric

    $1,548 Total revenue divided by population

    = Total revenue ÷ population

    Full definition: Revenue per resident

  2. 2Inputs

    Total revenue $1.1M ÷ population 734 (2021 estimate)

  3. 3Census line items

    • A80 Sewer charges
    • A91 Water utility charges
    • C89 State aid
    • T01 Property tax
    • T09 General sales tax
    • T15 Selective sales taxes (lodging, utilities, etc.)
    • T28 Licenses & permits
    • U20 Interest earnings
    • U30 Fines & forfeits

  4. 4Source file

What the numbers mean

  • La Jara runs city-owned utilities, which add 14.5% 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
  • With about 734 residents, small changes in La Jara's budget move per-resident figures a lot. Compare several years, not one.
  • La Jara 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, FY2021. Bars show La Jara; the gold tick is the peer median. How categories work

The biggest difference from peers is General government: $155 per resident, 75% below the peer median. On the revenue side, intergovernmental is 60% below peers.

Money in

Revenue

$1,548
per resident22% below peers
Money in: La Jara revenue per resident by category, FY2021, against the peer median. Open a category for its lines and Census item codes.
CategoryPer residentvs peers
$6917% belowpeers $740
$27221% abovepeers $224
$225in line withpeers $225
$18560% belowpeers $469
$10425% belowpeers $138
$372.5×peers $15
$3452% belowpeers $70
Peer median of 4 peers · Colorado median of 227 reporting

Money out

Spending

$1,020
per resident28% below peers
Money out: La Jara spending per resident by category, FY2021, against the peer median. Open a category for its lines and Census item codes.
CategoryPer residentvs peers
$46019% abovepeers $386
$15575% belowpeers $618
$2625% abovepeers $21
$14No peer comparisonpeers $0
None reported · peers $51$0None reported
Withheld
Peer median of 3 peers · Colorado median of 220 reporting

La Jara 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
La Jara compared with its peer municipalities, FY2021, per resident
MunicipalityRevenueExpendituresTax revenueSales taxDebt
La JaraUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 14.5% 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.$1,548$1,020$831$691$789
AntonitoUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 10.2% 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.Regional hub: Sales tax per resident is 1.9× the Colorado median.$2,932$1,726$1,712$1,605$3,664
San Luis$1,744$718$552$589
SaguacheUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 13.4% 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.$2,200$1,423$935$740Not reported for this year
ManassaUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 22.0% 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.$704$737$734
Peer median$1,972$1,423$935$740$734

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 $1,094 to FY2021 $1,548.$0$1.2K$2.5K’16’21Peer median FY2021: $1,972Colorado median FY2016: $1,746 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $2,476 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2016: $1,094FY2021: $1,548

Fiscal year · nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation

Show data table
Revenue per resident by fiscal year
YearThis cityPeer medianColorado median
FY2016$1,094Benchmark unavailable$1,746 (224 reporting)
FY2021$1,548$1,972$2,476 (227 reporting)
Expenditures per resident
FY2016 $539 to FY2021 $1,020.$0$1.1K$2.2K’16’21Peer median FY2021: $1,423Colorado median FY2016: $1,749 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $2,208 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2016: $539FY2021: $1,020

Fiscal year · nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation

Show data table
Expenditures per resident by fiscal year
YearThis cityPeer medianColorado median
FY2016$539Benchmark unavailable$1,749 (196 reporting)
FY2021$1,020$1,423$2,208 (220 reporting)
Tax revenue per resident
FY2016 $475 to FY2021 $831.$0$536$1.1K’16’21Peer median FY2021: $935Colorado median FY2016: $705 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $1,072 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2016: $475FY2021: $831

Fiscal year · nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation

Show data table
Tax revenue per resident by fiscal year
YearThis cityPeer medianColorado median
FY2016$475Benchmark unavailable$705 (193 reporting)
FY2021$831$935$1,072 (201 reporting)
Debt per resident
FY2016 $979 to FY2021 $789.$0$705.6$1.4K’16’21Peer median FY2016: $936Peer median FY2021: $734Colorado median FY2016: $1,072 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $1,411 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2016: $979FY2021: $789

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$979$936$1,072 (220 reporting)
FY2021$789$734$1,411 (199 reporting)

Questions about La Jara’s finances

How much revenue does La Jara collect per resident?
La Jara collected $1,548 per resident in FY2021, 38% below the median of the 227 Colorado municipalities reporting that year. See the figure
How does La Jara's spending per resident compare with similar cities?
La Jara spent $1,020 per resident in FY2021, 28% below the median of its peers: Antonito, San Luis, Saguache and Manassa. See the figure
How much debt does La Jara have per resident?
La Jara carried $789 of debt per resident in FY2021, 7% above its peers' median. See the figure
Which cities is La Jara compared with?
La Jara is compared with Antonito, San Luis, Saguache and Manassa: 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)
−2.0%/yr
2021 estimate
Median household income
$33.8K
2021 estimate
Poverty rate
27.5%
2021 estimate
Median home value
$125K
2021 estimate
Housing vacancy rate
9.3%
2021 estimate

Explore further

Also in San Luis Valley

Revenue per resident, latest published year.

Sources

Dataset: La Jara, 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 La Jara’s largest difference from its peers (75% below the peer median in FY2021). See how that line moves month to month in your own budget-vs-actual.

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