Walden · FY2021 municipal finance benchmarks

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

Jackson County · Central Mountains & Resort · statutory town · Pop. 529 (2025 estimate); FY2021 per-resident figures use 596 · Census finance data FY2016, FY2021

Latest Census Bureau finance data for Walden: 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

Walden collected $4,010 per resident (including city-run utilities), 62% above the median of the 227 Colorado municipalities reporting that year. Tax revenue per resident sits in line with its peers, but 7% below the state median. Debt per resident runs 2.3× 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)

$4,010

58% above peers

Includes city-owned utilities

Peer median: $2,535
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 79% of the 227 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars: +3.8%/yr

How Colorado compares on revenue per resident

Expenditures per resident (definition)

$4,292

2.7× peers

Includes city-owned utilities

Peer median: $1,577
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 84% of the 220 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars: +4.0%/yr

Tax revenue per resident (definition)

$997

in line with peers

Peer median: $989
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 46% of the 201 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars: +3.6%/yr

Debt per resident (definition)

$2,768

2.3× peers

Peer median: $1,219
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 74% of the 199 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars: −11.7%/yr

How Colorado compares on debt per resident

How this number was calculated

Revenue per resident · $4,010

Reported by the city to the Census Bureau

1Metric
$4,010 Total revenue divided by population
= Total revenue ÷ population
Full definition: Revenue per resident
2Inputs
Total revenue $2.4M ÷ population 596 (2021 estimate)
3Census line items
- A80 Sewer charges
- A89 General government (other) charges
- A91 Water utility charges
- A93 Gas utility charges
- C89 State aid
- T01 Property tax
- T09 General sales tax
- T20 Licenses & permits
- T27 Licenses & permits
- U20 Interest earnings
- U50 Private donations
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

Walden runs city-owned utilities, which add 53.2% 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 596 residents, small changes in Walden's budget move per-resident figures a lot. Compare several years, not one.
Debt per resident is 2.3× the peer median. One large bond issue can do this; check the city's annual financial report for what it funded.
Walden 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 Walden; the gold tick is the peer median. How categories work

The biggest difference from peers is Utilities & environment: $2,881 per resident, 3.6× the peer median. On the revenue side, utility & transit charges is 2.8× peers.

Money in

Revenue

$4,010

per resident58% above peers

Money in: Walden 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
	$2,134	$774	2.8× peerspeers $774	53%

Gas utility charges $1,685 · peers $0 Water utility charges $450 · peers $774 Revenue of city-owned water, electric, gas and transit systems. Census line items A91 Water utility charges A93 Gas utility charges
	$815	$794	in line with peerspeers $794	20%

General sales tax $815 · peers $794 General sales and use tax. Census line items T09 General sales tax
	$785	$276	2.8× peerspeers $276	20%

General government (other) charges $545 · peers $0 Sewer charges $240 · peers $230 Charges for services such as sewer, trash, recreation, parking and airports. Census line items A80 Sewer charges A89 General government (other) charges
	$144	$144	in line with peerspeers $144	4%

Property tax $144 · peers $144 Property tax levied by the municipality. Census line items T01 Property tax
	$89	$41	2.2× peerspeers $41	2%

Interest earnings $72 · peers $0 Private donations $17 · peers $0 Interest earnings, fines, rents, special assessments, donations and sales of property. Census line items U20 Interest earnings U50 Private donations
	$37	$34	10% above peerspeers $34	1%

Licenses & permits $37 · peers $18 Lodging, utility, tobacco and other selective sales taxes, licenses and permits, and other taxes. Census line items T20 Licenses & permits T27 Licenses & permits
	$5	$544	99% below peerspeers $544	<1%

State aid $5 · peers $420 Grants and shared revenue from federal, state and local governments. Census line items C89 State aid

Peer median of 5 peers · Colorado median of 227 reporting

Money out

Spending

$4,292

per resident2.7× peers

Money out: Walden 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
	$2,881	$807	3.6× peerspeers $807	67%

Gas utility $1,730 · peers $0 Water utility $622 · peers $536 incl. $7 construction Sewer $529 · peers $0 incl. $72 construction incl. $79 construction Water, sewer, solid waste, electric and gas utilities, and natural resources. Census line items E80 Sewer E91 Water utility E93 Gas utility F80 Sewer F91 Water utility
	$1,040	$618	68% above peerspeers $618	24%

Central staff services $671 · peers $0 General government (other) $314 · peers $618 Financial administration $54 · peers $0 Judicial & legal $2 · peers $8 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) M89 General government (other)
	$168	$177	5% below peerspeers $177	4%

Fire protection $116 · peers $0 Protective inspection & regulation $49 · peers $0 Corrections (other) $3 · peers $0 Police, fire protection, inspection and corrections. Census line items E05 Corrections (other) E24 Fire protection E66 Protective inspection & regulation
	$97	$23	4.3× peerspeers $23	2%

Interest on debt $97 · peers $23 Interest paid on the municipality's debt. Census line items I91 Interest on debt I93 Interest on debt
	$79	$175	55% below peerspeers $175	2%

Housing & community development $67 · peers $0 Parks & recreation $12 · peers $137 Parks and recreation, libraries, housing and community development. Census line items E50 Housing & community development E61 Parks & recreation
	$25	$221	89% below peerspeers $221	1%

Streets & highways $25 · peers $7 Streets and highways, transit, parking and airports. Census line items E44 Streets & highways
	$2	$0	No peer comparisonpeers $0	<1%

Health $2 · peers $0 Health, hospitals and public welfare. Census line items E32 Health

Peer median of 5 peers · Colorado median of 220 reporting

Walden 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

Walden compared with its peer municipalities, FY2021, per resident
Municipality	Revenue	Expenditures	Tax revenue	Sales tax	Debt
WaldenUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 53.2% 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.	$4,010	$4,292	$997	$815	$2,768
NorwoodUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 35.5% 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.	$2,535	$1,949	$1,043	$848	$469
Central CityUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 9.7% 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 1.5× the Colorado median.	$11,511	$9,407	Withheld Central City · Tax revenue per resident · FY2021 Reason: Tax revenue per resident is 7.0x the peer median We don't publish figures that fail our quality checks until they're verified against the city's audited financial report.	$1,317	$101,531
NuclaUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 40.3% 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.	$1,311	$1,577	$467	$369	$81
Lake CityUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 18.1% 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.Regional hub: Sales tax per resident is 1.8× the Colorado median.	$4,270	$1,326	$1,807	$1,576	$1,970
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	$740	Not reported for this year
Peer median	$2,535	$1,577	$989	$848	$1,219

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

Show data table

Revenue per resident by fiscal year
Year	This city	Peer median	Colorado median
FY2016	$3,332	Benchmark unavailable	$1,746 (224 reporting)
FY2021	$4,010	$2,535	$2,476 (227 reporting)

Expenditures per resident

Fiscal year · nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation

Show data table

Expenditures per resident by fiscal year
Year	This city	Peer median	Colorado median
FY2016	$3,530	Benchmark unavailable	$1,749 (196 reporting)
FY2021	$4,292	$1,577	$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	$835	$1,456	$705 (193 reporting)
FY2021	$997	$989	$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	$5,146	$236	$1,072 (220 reporting)
FY2021	$2,768	$1,219	$1,411 (199 reporting)

Questions about Walden’s finances

How much revenue does Walden collect per resident?: Walden collected $4,010 per resident in FY2021, 62% above the median of the 227 Colorado municipalities reporting that year. See the figure
How does Walden's spending per resident compare with similar cities?: Walden spent $4,292 per resident in FY2021, 2.7× the median of its peers: Norwood, Central City, Nucla, Lake City and Saguache. See the figure
How much debt does Walden have per resident?: Walden carried $2,768 of debt per resident in FY2021, 2.3× its peers' median. See the figure
Which cities is Walden compared with?: Walden is compared with Norwood, Central City, Nucla, Lake City and Saguache: 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): +0.1%/yr; 2021 estimate
Median household income: $47.6K; 2021 estimate
Poverty rate: 18.8%; 2021 estimate
Median home value: $175.7K; 2021 estimate
Housing vacancy rate: 16.2%; 2021 estimate

Explore further

Also in Central Mountains & Resort

Norwood$2,535 · FY2021
Lake City$4,270 · FY2021
Grand Lake$13,561 · FY2023
Hot Sulphur Springs
Yampa$1,935 · FY2021
Empire$3,292 · FY2021
Fairplay$5,213 · FY2021
Alma$2,983 · 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: Walden, 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 Walden’s largest difference from its peers (3.6× 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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Walden · 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

Walden and its peers

Trends

Questions about Walden’s finances

Community context

Explore further

Also in Central Mountains & Resort

Sources

Utilities & environment is Walden’s largest difference from its peers (3.6× the peer median in FY2021). See how that line moves month to month in your own budget-vs-actual.