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Monte Vista · FY2021 municipal finance benchmarks

Rio Grande County · San Luis Valley · home rule municipality · Pop. 4,005 (2025 estimate); FY2021 per-resident figures use 4,193 · Census finance data FY2016, FY2021, FY2023

You’re viewing FY2021. See the latest view (FY2023). Latest Census Bureau finance data for Monte Vista: 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

FY2021 in brief

Monte Vista collected $2,876 per resident (including city-run utilities), 16% above the median of the 227 Colorado municipalities reporting that year, 76% above its peers. Tax revenue per resident sits 36% below its peers, and 9% below the state median. Debt per resident runs 10% 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)

$2,876
76% above peers
Includes city-owned utilities
Peer median
$1,632
CO median · 227 with a published figure
$2,476
Position
Higher than 62% of the 227 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars
+18.4%/yr
How Colorado compares on revenue per resident

Expenditures per resident (definition)

$3,409
2.2× peers
Includes city-owned utilities
Peer median
$1,562
CO median · 220 with a published figure
$2,208
Position
Higher than 74% of the 220 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars
+20.0%/yr

Tax revenue per resident (definition)

$975
36% below peers
Peer median
$1,528
CO median · 201 with a published figure
$1,072
Position
Higher than 44% of the 201 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars
Not enough history for a 5-year change

Debt per resident (definition)

$1,041
10% above peers
Peer median
$947
CO median · 199 with a published figure
$1,411
Position
Higher than 41% of the 199 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars
+11.0%/yr
How Colorado compares on debt per resident

How this number was calculated

Revenue per resident · $2,876
Reported by the city to the Census Bureau

  1. 1Metric

    $2,876 Total revenue divided by population

    = Total revenue ÷ population

    Full definition: Revenue per resident

  2. 2Inputs

    Total revenue $12.1M ÷ population 4,193 (2021 estimate)

  3. 3Census line items

    • A61 Parks & recreation charges
    • A80 Sewer charges
    • A89 General government (other) charges
    • A91 Water utility charges
    • B89 Federal aid
    • C89 State aid
    • D89 Local government aid
    • T01 Property tax
    • T09 General sales tax
    • T19 Selective sales taxes (lodging, utilities, etc.)
    • T20 Licenses & permits
    • T21 Licenses & permits
    • T24 Licenses & permits
    • T28 Licenses & permits
    • T29 Licenses & permits
    • U01 Special assessments
    • U11 Sale of property
    • U20 Interest earnings
    • U30 Fines & forfeits
    • U40 Rents
    • U50 Private donations
    • U99 Miscellaneous

  4. 4Source file

What the numbers mean

  • Monte Vista runs city-owned utilities, which add 9.1% 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
  • With about 4,193 residents, small changes in Monte Vista's budget move per-resident figures a lot. Compare several years, not one.
  • Monte Vista 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 Monte Vista; the gold tick is the peer median. How categories work

The biggest difference from peers is Parks, libraries & community: $1,481 per resident, 8.5× the peer median. On the revenue side, other revenue is 52.1× peers.

Money in

Revenue

$2,876
per resident76% above peers
Money in: Monte Vista revenue per resident by category, FY2021, against the peer median. Open a category for its lines and Census item codes.
CategoryPer residentvs peers
$87052.1×peers $17
$825in line withpeers $829
$4769% abovepeers $438
$29329% belowpeers $411
$26244% belowpeers $469
$10938% abovepeers $79
$4037% belowpeers $63
Peer median of 5 peers · Colorado median of 227 reporting

Money out

Spending

$3,409
per resident2.2× peers
Money out: Monte Vista spending per resident by category, FY2021, against the peer median. Open a category for its lines and Census item codes.
CategoryPer residentvs peers
$1,4818.5×peers $175
$1,01368% abovepeers $603
$34433% abovepeers $259
$27030% abovepeers $207
$25580% abovepeers $142
$4659% abovepeers $29
Peer median of 5 peers · Colorado median of 220 reporting

Monte Vista 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
Monte Vista compared with its peer municipalities, FY2021, per resident
MunicipalityRevenueExpendituresTax revenueSales taxDebt
Monte VistaUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 9.1% 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.$2,876$3,409$975$825$1,041
SiltUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 17.6% 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.$1,303$1,562$494$336$591
Buena VistaUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 16.8% 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 1.5× the Colorado median.$2,987$2,058$1,528$1,323$1,231
Orchard CityUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 32.3% 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.$1,453$695Not reported for this year$516
GunnisonUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 28.5% 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.Regional hub: Sales tax per resident is 1.9× the Colorado median.$4,357$3,661$1,905$1,622$2,320
New CastleUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 14.3% 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.$1,632$1,394$439$947
Peer median$1,632$1,562$1,528$881$947

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 $1,234 to FY2023 $2,008.$0$1.8K$3.7K’16’21’23Peer median FY2016: $1,965Peer median FY2021: $1,632Peer median FY2023: $3,661Colorado median FY2016: $1,746 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $2,476 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2016: $1,234FY2021: $2,876FY2023: $2,008

Fiscal year · nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation

Peer group changed in 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$1,234$1,965$1,746 (224 reporting)
FY2021$2,876$1,632$2,476 (227 reporting)
FY2023$2,008$3,661$3,580 (97 reporting, sample year)
Expenditures per resident
FY2016 $1,370 to FY2023 $1,849.$0$2.2K$4.3K’16’21’23Peer median FY2016: $1,572Peer median FY2021: $1,562Peer median FY2023: $4,332Colorado median FY2016: $1,749 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $2,208 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2016: $1,370FY2021: $3,409FY2023: $1,849. 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 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$1,370$1,572$1,749 (196 reporting)
FY2021$3,409$1,562$2,208 (220 reporting)
FY2023$1,849$4,332$3,680 (91 reporting, sample year)
Tax revenue per resident
FY2021 $975 to FY2023 $805. 1 year withheld.$0$916.8$1.8K’16’21’23Peer median FY2021: $1,528Peer median FY2023: $1,834Colorado median FY2016: $705 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $1,072 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2021: $975FY2023: $805FY2016: withheld — Tax revenue per resident is 27% of this city's typical level in other years

Fiscal year · nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation

  • FY2016 withheld: Tax revenue per resident is 27% of this city's typical level in other years

Peer group changed in 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
FY2016Withheld (Tax revenue per resident is 27% of this city's typical level in other years)Benchmark unavailable$705 (193 reporting)
FY2021$975$1,528$1,072 (201 reporting)
FY2023$805$1,834$1,726 (90 reporting, sample year)
Debt per resident
FY2016 $617 to FY2021 $1,041.$0$705.6$1.4K’16’21’23Peer median FY2021: $947Colorado median FY2016: $1,072 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $1,411 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2016: $617FY2021: $1,041

Fiscal year · nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation

Show data table
Debt per resident by fiscal year
YearThis cityPeer medianColorado median
FY2016$617Benchmark unavailable$1,072 (220 reporting)
FY2021$1,041$947$1,411 (199 reporting)
FY2023———

Questions about Monte Vista’s finances

How much revenue does Monte Vista collect per resident?
Monte Vista collected $2,876 per resident in FY2021, 16% above the median of the 227 Colorado municipalities reporting that year. See the figure
How does Monte Vista's spending per resident compare with similar cities?
Monte Vista spent $3,409 per resident in FY2021, 2.2× the median of its peers: Silt, Buena Vista, Orchard City, Gunnison and New Castle. See the figure
How much debt does Monte Vista have per resident?
Monte Vista carried $1,041 of debt per resident in FY2021, 10% above its peers' median. See the figure
Which cities is Monte Vista compared with?
Monte Vista is compared with Silt, Buena Vista, Orchard City, Gunnison and New Castle: 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)
+0.4%/yr
2021 estimate
Median household income
$45K
2021 estimate
Poverty rate
19.4%
2021 estimate
Median home value
$138.3K
2021 estimate
Housing vacancy rate
9.8%
2021 estimate

Explore further

Also in San Luis Valley

Revenue per resident, latest published year.

Sources

Dataset: Monte Vista, 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

Parks, libraries & community is Monte Vista’s largest difference from its peers (8.5× the peer median in FY2021). See how that line moves month to month in your own budget-vs-actual.

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