Orivian

Palmer Lake · FY2016 municipal finance benchmarks

El Paso County · Pikes Peak · statutory town · Pop. 2,591 (2025 estimate); FY2016 per-resident figures use 2,833 · Census finance data FY2016, FY2021

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

Palmer Lake collected $914 per resident (including city-run utilities), 48% below the median of the 224 Colorado municipalities reporting that year. Debt per resident runs 94% below peers.

  • Tax revenue per resident withheld: Tax revenue per resident is 9% 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)

$914
56% below peers
Includes city-owned utilities
Peer median
$2,093
CO median · 224 with a published figure
$1,746
Position
Higher than 14% of the 224 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars
Not enough history for a 5-year change
How Colorado compares on revenue per resident

Expenditures per resident (definition)

Includes city-owned utilities
Peer median
Benchmark unavailable
CO median · 196 with a published figure
$1,749
Position
Not reported for this year
5-year changenominal dollars
Withheld with this year's value

Tax revenue per resident (definition)

Peer median
Benchmark unavailable
CO median · 193 with a published figure
$705
Position
Not reported for this year
5-year changenominal dollars
Withheld with this year's value

Debt per resident (definition)

$172
94% below peers
Peer median
$2,956
CO median · 220 with a published figure
$1,072
Position
Higher than 9% 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 · $914
Includes Census estimates for 100% of revenue

  1. 1Metric

    $914 Total revenue divided by population

    = Total revenue ÷ population

    Full definition: Revenue per resident

  2. 2Inputs

    Total revenue $2.6M ÷ population 2,833 (2016 estimate)

  3. 3Census line items

    • A80 Sewer charges
    • A81 Solid waste charges
    • A89 General government (other) charges
    • A91 Water utility charges
    • T01 Property tax
    • U11 Sale of property
    • U99 Miscellaneous

  4. 4Source file

What the numbers mean

  • Palmer Lake runs city-owned utilities, which add 23.1% 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 2,833 residents, small changes in Palmer Lake's budget move per-resident figures a lot. Compare several years, not one.
  • Part of Palmer Lake's FY2016 revenue is a Census Bureau estimate, not a reported figure. How estimates are handled

Where the money comes from and where it goes

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

On the revenue side, the biggest difference from peers is Sales tax: none reported, against a peer median of $622 per resident.

Money in

Revenue

$914
per resident56% below peers
Money in: Palmer Lake revenue per resident by category, FY2016, against the peer median. Open a category for its lines and Census item codes.
CategoryPer residentvs peers
$4382.1×peers $213
$21114% belowpeers $245
$16058% abovepeers $101
None reported · peers $622$0None reported
None reported · peers $197$0None reported
None reported · peers $53$0None reported
Withheldpeers $205
Peer median of 4 peers · Colorado median of 224 reporting

Money out

Spending

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

Peer median of 4 peers · Colorado median of 196 reporting

Palmer Lake 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
Palmer Lake compared with its peer municipalities, FY2016, per resident
MunicipalityRevenueExpendituresTax revenueSales taxDebt
Palmer LakeUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 23.1% 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.$914Not reported for this year$172
PlattevilleUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 22.5% 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.$1,191$3,527$456$169$58
HudsonUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 10.7% 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.$2,074$2,449$808$246$3,247
BennettUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 14.7% 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.Regional hub: Sales tax per resident is 1.8× the Colorado median.$2,188$3,863$1,224$998$4,043
Manitou SpringsRegional hub: Sales tax per resident is 2.0× the Colorado median.$2,111$2,043$1,679$1,106$1,847
Peer median$2,093Benchmark unavailableBenchmark unavailableNot reported for this year$2,956

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 $914 to FY2021 $1,577.$0$1.4K$2.7K’16’21Peer median FY2016: $2,093Peer median FY2021: $2,711Colorado median FY2016: $1,746 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $2,476 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2016: $914FY2021: $1,577

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
Revenue per resident by fiscal year
YearThis cityPeer medianColorado median
FY2016$914$2,093$1,746 (224 reporting)
FY2021$1,577$2,711$2,476 (227 reporting)
Expenditures per resident
FY2021 $1,777. 1 year withheld.$0$1.7K$3.4K’16’21Peer median FY2021: $3,418Colorado median FY2016: $1,749 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $2,208 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2021: $1,777FY2016: withheld — Expenditures per resident is 5% of the peer median

Fiscal year · nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation

  • FY2016 withheld: Expenditures per resident is 5% of the peer median
Show data table
Expenditures per resident by fiscal year
YearThis cityPeer medianColorado median
FY2016Withheld (Expenditures per resident is 5% of the peer median)Benchmark unavailable$1,749 (196 reporting)
FY2021$1,777$3,418$2,208 (220 reporting)
Tax revenue per resident
FY2021 $860. 1 year withheld.$0$539.5$1.1K’16’21Peer median FY2021: $1,079Colorado median FY2016: $705 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $1,072 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2021: $860FY2016: withheld — Tax revenue per resident is 9% of the peer median

Fiscal year · nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation

  • FY2016 withheld: Tax revenue per resident is 9% of the peer median
Show data table
Tax revenue per resident by fiscal year
YearThis cityPeer medianColorado median
FY2016Withheld (Tax revenue per resident is 9% of the peer median)Benchmark unavailable$705 (193 reporting)
FY2021$860$1,079$1,072 (201 reporting)
Debt per resident
FY2016 $172 to FY2021 $868.$0$1.5K$3K’16’21Peer median FY2016: $2,956Peer median FY2021: $1,463Colorado median FY2016: $1,072 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $1,411 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2016: $172FY2021: $868

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$172$2,956$1,072 (220 reporting)
FY2021$868$1,463$1,411 (199 reporting)

Questions about Palmer Lake’s finances

How much revenue does Palmer Lake collect per resident?
Palmer Lake collected $914 per resident in FY2016, 48% below the median of the 224 Colorado municipalities reporting that year. See the figure
How much debt does Palmer Lake have per resident?
Palmer Lake carried $172 of debt per resident in FY2016, 94% below its peers' median. See the figure
Which cities is Palmer Lake compared with?
Palmer Lake is compared with Platteville, Hudson, Bennett and Manitou Springs: 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)
+1.8%/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 Pikes Peak

Revenue per resident, latest published year.

Sources

Dataset: Palmer Lake, 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

Work for Palmer Lake? See this kind of answer for your monthly numbers.

Orivian applies the same sourced, governed approach to your city's own budget-vs-actual data.

See how it worksTalk to us
Book a walkthrough