Paonia · FY2021 municipal finance benchmarks

Name: Paonia, CO municipal finance benchmarks
Creator: Orivian
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Delta County · Western Slope · statutory town · Pop. 1,477 (2025 estimate); FY2021 per-resident figures use 1,476 · Census finance data FY2016, FY2021

Latest Census Bureau finance data for Paonia: FY2021. Retrieved Oct 2026. Newer years are added when the Census Bureau publishes them. Why the lag?

City website (opens in a new tab)

Fiscal yearCompare

FY2021 in brief

Paonia collected $2,448 per resident (including city-run utilities), in line with the median of the 227 Colorado municipalities reporting that year, 29% below its peers. Tax revenue per resident sits 56% below its peers, and 16% below the state median. Debt per resident runs 6.8× peers.

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

Compared with

Nearest on population, household income and region

Revenue per resident (definition)

$2,448

29% below peers

Includes city-owned utilities

Peer median: $3,432
CO median · 227 with a published figure Median of the 227 Colorado municipalities with FY2021 Census finance data. In FY2016 and FY2021 the Census covers every municipality; in other years it surveys a sample, mostly larger cities.: $2,476
Position: Higher than 49% of the 227 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars: +1.0%/yr

How Colorado compares on revenue per resident

Expenditures per resident (definition)

$1,774

29% below peers

Includes city-owned utilities

Peer median: $2,481
CO median · 220 with a published figure Median of the 220 Colorado municipalities with FY2021 Census finance data. In FY2016 and FY2021 the Census covers every municipality; in other years it surveys a sample, mostly larger cities.: $2,208
Position: Higher than 38% of the 220 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars: +5.5%/yr

Tax revenue per resident (definition)

$901

56% below peers

Peer median: $2,053
CO median · 201 with a published figure Median of the 201 Colorado municipalities with FY2021 Census finance data. In FY2016 and FY2021 the Census covers every municipality; in other years it surveys a sample, mostly larger cities.: $1,072
Position: Higher than 38% of the 201 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars: +11.9%/yr

Debt per resident (definition)

$2,642

6.8× peers

Peer median: $388
CO median · 199 with a published figure Median of the 199 Colorado municipalities with FY2021 Census finance data. In FY2016 and FY2021 the Census covers every municipality; in other years it surveys a sample, mostly larger cities.: $1,411
Position: Higher than 73% of the 199 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars: +12.9%/yr

How Colorado compares on debt per resident

How this number was calculated

Revenue per resident · $2,448

Reported by the city to the Census Bureau

1Metric
$2,448 Total revenue divided by population
= Total revenue ÷ population
Full definition: Revenue per resident
2Inputs
Total revenue $3.6M ÷ population 1,476 (2021 estimate)
3Census line items
- A44 Streets & highways charges
- A80 Sewer charges
- A81 Solid waste charges
- A91 Water utility charges
- 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
- U01 Special assessments
- U20 Interest earnings
- U30 Fines & forfeits
- U99 Miscellaneous
4Source file
- Annual Survey of State & Local Government Finances 2022 - Individual Unit File
  Value for
  FY2021
  Survey file
  2022
  The 2022 Census survey covers fiscal years ending July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022, so a fiscal year ending December 31, 2021 is FY2021.
  Retrieved October 12, 2026 · View source: Annual Survey of State & Local Government Finances 2022 - Individual Unit File (opens in a new tab)
- Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025 - incorporated places
  Value for
  FY2021
  Source year
  2025
  Retrieved October 7, 2026 · View source: Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025 - incorporated places (opens in a new tab)

What the numbers mean

Paonia runs city-owned utilities, which add 29.2% 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
With about 1,476 residents, small changes in Paonia's budget move per-resident figures a lot. Compare several years, not one.
Debt per resident is 6.8× 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, FY2021. Bars show Paonia; the gold tick is the peer median. How categories work

The biggest difference from peers is General government: $385 per resident, 58% below the peer median. On the revenue side, sales tax is 52% below peers.

Money in

Revenue

$2,448

per resident29% below peers

Money in: Paonia revenue per resident by category, FY2021, against the peer median. Open a category for its lines and Census item codes.
Category	Per resident	Peer median	vs peers	Share of revenue
	$726	$1,522	52% below peerspeers $1,522	30%

General sales tax $726 · peers $1,522 General sales and use tax. Census line items T09 General sales tax
	$714	$455	57% above peerspeers $455	29%

Water utility charges $714 · peers $450 Revenue of city-owned water, electric, gas and transit systems. Census line items A91 Water utility charges
	$558	$340	64% above peerspeers $340	23%

Sewer charges $362 · peers $249 Solid waste charges $177 · peers $65 Streets & highways charges $18 · peers $0 Charges for services such as sewer, trash, recreation, parking and airports. Census line items A44 Streets & highways charges A80 Sewer charges A81 Solid waste charges
	$176	$396	56% below peerspeers $396	7%

State aid $171 · peers $142 Local government aid $5 · peers $28 Grants and shared revenue from federal, state and local governments. Census line items C89 State aid D89 Local government aid
	$107	$284	62% below peerspeers $284	4%

Property tax $107 · peers $284 Property tax levied by the municipality. Census line items T01 Property tax
	$99	$70	41% above peerspeers $70	4%

Miscellaneous $52 · peers $16 Special assessments $21 · peers $0 Fines & forfeits $20 · peers $18 Interest earnings $6 · peers $1 Interest earnings, fines, rents, special assessments, donations and sales of property. Census line items U01 Special assessments U20 Interest earnings U30 Fines & forfeits U99 Miscellaneous
	$68	$207	67% below peerspeers $207	3%

Selective sales taxes (lodging, utilities, etc.) $38 · peers $112 Licenses & permits $30 · peers $59 Lodging, utility, tobacco and other selective sales taxes, licenses and permits, and other taxes. Census line items T15 Selective sales taxes (lodging, utilities, etc.) T20 Licenses & permits T24 Licenses & permits T29 Licenses & permits

Peer median of 4 peers · Colorado median of 227 reporting

Money out

Spending

$1,774

per resident29% below peers

Money out: Paonia spending per resident by category, FY2021, against the peer median. Open a category for its lines and Census item codes.
Category	Per resident	Peer median	vs peers	Share of spending
	$879	$574	53% above peerspeers $574	50%

Water utility $465 · peers $287 Sewer $252 · peers $181 Solid waste $162 · peers $80 Water, sewer, solid waste, electric and gas utilities, and natural resources. Census line items E80 Sewer E81 Solid waste E91 Water utility
	$385	$913	58% below peerspeers $913	22%

General government (other) $331 · peers $315 incl. $98 construction Judicial & legal $36 · peers $12 Central staff services $13 · peers $382 Financial administration $5 · peers $178 incl. $98 construction Administration, finance, legal and courts, public buildings and other general government. Census line items E23 Financial administration E25 Judicial & legal E29 Central staff services E89 General government (other) F89 General government (other)
Peer median unavailable	$306	Peer median unavailable	No peer comparison	17%

Police $306 Police, fire protection, inspection and corrections. Census line items E62 Police
	$111	$22	5.1× peerspeers $22	6%

Interest on debt $111 · peers $22 Interest paid on the municipality's debt. Includes Census Bureau estimates for this year. Census line items I89 Interest on debt
	$92	$231	60% below peerspeers $231	5%

Parks & recreation $92 · peers $231 Parks and recreation, libraries, housing and community development. Census line items E61 Parks & recreation
	$1	$229	100% below peerspeers $229	<1%

Streets & highways $1 · peers $229 incl. $1 construction incl. $1 construction Streets and highways, transit, parking and airports. Census line items F44 Streets & highways

Peer median of 3 peers · Colorado median of 220 reporting

Paonia 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

Paonia compared with its peer municipalities, FY2021, per resident
Municipality	Revenue	Expenditures	Tax revenue	Sales tax	Debt
PaoniaUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 29.2% 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.	$2,448	$1,774	$901	$726	$2,642
ParachuteUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 10.5% 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 1.7× the Colorado median.	$3,247	Withheld Parachute · Expenditures per resident · FY2021 Reason: Expenditures per resident is 33% of the peer median We don't publish figures that fail our quality checks until they're verified against the city's audited financial report.	$2,053	$1,490	$175
FraserUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 16.2% 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 5.0× the Colorado median.	$7,865	$4,813	$4,929	$4,342	$72
OlatheUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 12.7% 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.	$1,276	$1,123	$464	$363	$601
RidgwayUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 15.7% 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 1.8× the Colorado median.	$3,618	$2,481	$2,053	$1,553	$1,371
Peer median	$3,432	$2,481	$2,053	$1,522	$388

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

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
Year	This city	Peer median	Colorado median
FY2016	$2,331	$2,076	$1,746 (224 reporting)
FY2021	$2,448	$3,432	$2,476 (227 reporting)

Expenditures per resident

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

Expenditures per resident by fiscal year
Year	This city	Peer median	Colorado median
FY2016	$1,355	$1,839	$1,749 (196 reporting)
FY2021	$1,774	$2,481	$2,208 (220 reporting)

Tax revenue per resident

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

Tax revenue per resident by fiscal year
Year	This city	Peer median	Colorado median
FY2016	$514	$1,010	$705 (193 reporting)
FY2021	$901	$2,053	$1,072 (201 reporting)

Debt per resident

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
Year	This city	Peer median	Colorado median
FY2016	$1,439	$1,117	$1,072 (220 reporting)
FY2021	$2,642	$388	$1,411 (199 reporting)

Questions about Paonia’s finances

How much revenue does Paonia collect per resident?: Paonia collected $2,448 per resident in FY2021, in line with the median of the 227 Colorado municipalities reporting that year. See the figure
How does Paonia's spending per resident compare with similar cities?: Paonia spent $1,774 per resident in FY2021, 29% below the median of its peers: Parachute, Fraser, Olathe and Ridgway. See the figure
How much debt does Paonia have per resident?: Paonia carried $2,642 of debt per resident in FY2021, 6.8× its peers' median. See the figure
Which cities is Paonia compared with?: Paonia is compared with Parachute, Fraser, Olathe and Ridgway: 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): +0.9%/yr; 2021 estimate
Median household income: $53.6K; 2021 estimate
Poverty rate: 13.0%; 2021 estimate
Median home value: $217.4K; 2021 estimate
Housing vacancy rate: 17.6%; 2021 estimate

Explore further

Also in Western Slope

Parachute$3,247 · FY2021
Ridgway$3,618 · FY2021
Olathe$1,276 · FY2021
Hotchkiss$2,602 · FY2021
Ouray$10,701 · FY2021
Rangely$2,278 · FY2021
Nucla$1,311 · FY2021
Meeker$1,182 · FY2021

Revenue per resident, latest published year.

Sources

American Community Survey 5-year estimates 2017-2021 · 2021
U.S. Census Bureau
Retrieved October 7, 2026View source: American Community Survey 5-year estimates 2017-2021 (opens in a new tab)
Annual Survey of State & Local Government Finances 2022 - Individual Unit File · 2022 survey file
U.S. Census Bureau
Retrieved October 12, 2026View source: Annual Survey of State & Local Government Finances 2022 - Individual Unit File (opens in a new tab)
Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025 - incorporated places · 2025
U.S. Census Bureau
Retrieved October 7, 2026View source: Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025 - incorporated places (opens in a new tab)

Dataset: Paonia, 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 Paonia’s largest difference from its peers (58% below the peer median in FY2021). See how that line moves month to month in your own budget-vs-actual.

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

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Paonia · FY2021 municipal finance benchmarks

FY2021 in brief

FY2021 headline figures

Revenue per resident (definition)

Expenditures per resident (definition)

Tax revenue per resident (definition)

Debt per resident (definition)

How this number was calculated

What the numbers mean

Where the money comes from and where it goes

Money in

Money out

Paonia and its peers

Trends

Questions about Paonia’s finances

Community context

Explore further

Also in Western Slope

Sources

General government is Paonia’s largest difference from its peers (58% below the peer median in FY2021). See how that line moves month to month in your own budget-vs-actual.