Orivian

La Junta · FY2023 municipal finance benchmarks

Otero County · Eastern Plains · home rule municipality · Pop. 6,864 (2025 estimate); FY2023 per-resident figures use 7,040 · Census finance data FY2016, FY2017, FY2021, FY2023

Latest Census Bureau finance data for La Junta: 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

La Junta collected $4,464 per resident (including city-run utilities), 25% above the median of the 97 Colorado municipalities reporting that year, 9% above its peers. Tax revenue per resident sits in line with its peers, but 41% below the state median. Debt per resident runs 90% above 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)

$4,464
9% above peers
Includes city-owned utilities
Peer median
$4,081
CO median · 97 with a published figure
$3,580
Position
Higher than 62% of the 97 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars
Not enough history for a 5-year change
How Colorado compares on revenue per resident

Expenditures per resident (definition)

$4,997
30% above peers
Includes city-owned utilities
Peer median
$3,852
CO median · 91 with a published figure
$3,680
Position
Higher than 69% of the 91 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars
Not enough history for a 5-year change

Tax revenue per resident (definition)

$1,023
in line with peers
Peer median
$1,037
CO median · 90 with a published figure
$1,726
Position
Higher than 18% of the 90 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars
Not enough history for a 5-year change

Debt per resident (definition)

$2,639
90% above peers
Peer median
$1,388
CO median · 91 with a published figure
$2,130
Position
Higher than 59% of the 91 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 · $4,464
Reported by the city to the Census Bureau

  1. 1Metric

    $4,464 Total revenue divided by population

    = Total revenue ÷ population

    Full definition: Revenue per resident

  2. 2Inputs

    Total revenue $31.4M ÷ population 7,040 (2023 estimate)

  3. 3Census line items

    • A01 Airport charges
    • A03 Commercial activities (other) charges
    • A44 Streets & highways charges
    • A61 Parks & recreation charges
    • A80 Sewer charges
    • A81 Solid waste 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.)
    • T20 Licenses & permits
    • T24 Licenses & permits
    • T29 Licenses & permits
    • T99 Other taxes
    • U11 Sale of property
    • U20 Interest earnings
    • U30 Fines & forfeits
    • U40 Rents
    • U99 Miscellaneous

  4. 4Source file

What the numbers mean

  • La Junta runs city-owned utilities, which add 46.2% 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, FY2023. Bars show La Junta; the gold tick is the peer median. How categories work

The biggest difference from peers is Utilities & environment: $2,988 per resident, 69% above the peer median. On the revenue side, fees & charges is 85% above peers.

Money in

Revenue

$4,464
per resident9% above peers
Money in: La Junta revenue per resident by category, FY2023, against the peer median. Open a category for its lines and Census item codes.
CategoryPer residentvs peers
$2,060in line withpeers $2,049
$82885% abovepeers $448
$771in line withpeers $768
$32040% abovepeers $230
$2322.5×peers $92
$23224% belowpeers $305
$2085% belowpeers $134
Peer median of 5 peers · Colorado median of 97 reporting

Money out

Spending

$4,997
per resident30% above peers
Money out: La Junta spending per resident by category, FY2023, against the peer median. Open a category for its lines and Census item codes.
CategoryPer residentvs peers
$2,98869% abovepeers $1,773
$59924% abovepeers $483
$58036% abovepeers $427
$39078% abovepeers $220
$276in line withpeers $274
$1122.8×peers $40
$523.3×peers $16
None reported · peers $4$0None reported
Peer median of 5 peers · Colorado median of 91 reporting

La Junta 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
La Junta compared with its peer municipalities, FY2023, per resident
MunicipalityRevenueExpendituresTax revenueSales taxDebt
La JuntaUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 46.2% 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.$4,464$4,997$1,023$771$2,639
LamarUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 56.2% 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.$4,292$4,235$835$708$1,392
Fort MorganUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 53.7% 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.$6,061$6,336$1,900$1,224$1,383
YumaUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 36.5% 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.$3,000$2,609$1,037$735Not reported for this year
SterlingUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 19.4% 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.$2,429$2,309$976$767$5,897
BurlingtonUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 50.2% 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.$4,081$3,852$1,130$876$1,375
Peer median$4,081$3,852$1,037$767$1,388

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 $3,380 to FY2023 $4,464.$0$3.8K$7.6K’16’17’21’23Peer median FY2016: $3,081Peer median FY2017: $7,564Peer median FY2021: $3,090Peer median FY2023: $4,081Colorado median FY2016: $1,746 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $2,476 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2016: $3,380FY2017: $3,532FY2021: $3,970FY2023: $4,464

Fiscal year · nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation

Peer group changed in FY2017, FY2021, FY2023. 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$3,380$3,081$1,746 (224 reporting)
FY2017$3,532$7,564$2,694 (35 reporting, sample year)
FY2021$3,970$3,090$2,476 (227 reporting)
FY2023$4,464$4,081$3,580 (97 reporting, sample year)
Expenditures per resident
FY2016 $2,898 to FY2023 $4,997.$0$3.8K$7.7K’16’17’21’23Peer median FY2016: $2,985Peer median FY2017: $7,673Peer median FY2021: $2,781Peer median FY2023: $3,852Colorado median FY2016: $1,749 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $2,208 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2016: $2,898FY2017: $3,856FY2021: $4,386FY2023: $4,997. 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 FY2017, FY2021, FY2023. 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$2,898$2,985$1,749 (196 reporting)
FY2017$3,856$7,673$2,663 (35 reporting, sample year)
FY2021$4,386$2,781$2,208 (220 reporting)
FY2023$4,997$3,852$3,680 (91 reporting, sample year)
Tax revenue per resident
FY2016 $605 to FY2023 $1,023.$0$1.1K$2.2K’16’17’21’23Peer median FY2016: $584Peer median FY2017: $2,170Peer median FY2021: $911Peer median FY2023: $1,037Colorado median FY2016: $705 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $1,072 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2016: $605FY2017: $598FY2021: $748FY2023: $1,023

Fiscal year · nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation

Peer group changed in FY2017, FY2021, FY2023. 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$605$584$705 (193 reporting)
FY2017$598$2,170$1,098 (34 reporting, sample year)
FY2021$748$911$1,072 (201 reporting)
FY2023$1,023$1,037$1,726 (90 reporting, sample year)
Debt per resident
FY2016 $2,619 to FY2023 $2,639.$0$1.3K$2.6K’16’17’21’23Peer median FY2016: $1,417Peer median FY2017: $1,548Peer median FY2021: $1,270Peer median FY2023: $1,388Colorado median FY2016: $1,072 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $1,411 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2016: $2,619FY2017: $2,590FY2021: $2,418FY2023: $2,639

Fiscal year · nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation

Peer group changed in FY2017, FY2021, FY2023. 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$2,619$1,417$1,072 (220 reporting)
FY2017$2,590$1,548$1,482 (34 reporting, sample year)
FY2021$2,418$1,270$1,411 (199 reporting)
FY2023$2,639$1,388$2,130 (91 reporting, sample year)

Questions about La Junta’s finances

How much revenue does La Junta collect per resident?
La Junta collected $4,464 per resident in FY2023, 25% above the median of the 97 Colorado municipalities reporting that year. See the figure
How does La Junta's spending per resident compare with similar cities?
La Junta spent $4,997 per resident in FY2023, 30% above the median of its peers: Lamar, Fort Morgan, Yuma, Sterling and Burlington. See the figure
How much debt does La Junta have per resident?
La Junta carried $2,639 of debt per resident in FY2023, 90% above its peers' median. See the figure
Which cities is La Junta compared with?
La Junta is compared with Lamar, Fort Morgan, Yuma, Sterling and Burlington: 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)
+0.3%/yr
2023 estimate
Median household income
$54.3K
2023 estimate
Poverty rate
26.0%
2023 estimate
Median home value
$180.7K
2023 estimate
Housing vacancy rate
5.0%
2023 estimate

Explore further

Also in Eastern Plains

Revenue per resident, latest published year.

Sources

Dataset: La Junta, 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 La Junta’s largest difference from its peers (69% above the peer median in FY2023). See how that line moves month to month in your own budget-vs-actual.

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