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California · 118,950 residents

Berkeley

$540.5 million spent in FY2024.

$4,544 per resident · California cities of the same size: $1,866

Berkeley’s spending by policy area

All the city's funds, including the utilities and other services it runs as businesses.

Click a line to see what it pays for

Source: California State Controller's Office — Cities Annual Report (By the Numbers), FY2024.

Capital spending

$35.4M of capital outlay in FY2024, $298 per resident.

  • Transportation$23.1M
  • Culture and leisure$8.3M
  • Public safety$2.6M
  • Community development$966k
  • Health$283k
  • General government$96k

The capital outlay of the city's general and special funds in FY2024, by function. What its utilities invest is not reported as spending in their accounts.

Source: California State Controller's Office — Cities Annual Report (By the Numbers), FY2024.

Revenue

Revenue: $583.9M · spending: $540.5M.

Revenue by source

  • Local taxes42%$246.0M

    Secured and unsecured property taxes $89.4M · Business license taxes $30.1M · Real property transfer taxes $24.8M

  • Fees, charges and utility sales39%$226.8M

    Other special benefit assessments $53.9M · Solid waste enterprise fund $51.1M · Other enterprise fund $41.8M

  • Aid from other governments11%$65.3M

    Other state grants $30.0M · Other federal grants $17.6M · Gasoline tax $6.6M

  • Interest, rents and other revenue6%$36.6M

    Investment income $27.0M · Sewer enterprise fund $2.3M · Other enterprise fund $1.8M

  • Licenses, permits and fines2%$9.2M

    Vehicle code fines $5.9M · Other licenses and permits $1.4M · Other fines $1.3M

Source: California State Controller's Office — Cities Annual Report (By the Numbers), FY2024. Borrowing and transfers between the city's funds are not counted as revenue.

Debt and taxation

$2,236 of debt per resident

California cities of the same size: $865

$265.9M owed in total at the end of FY2024, $10.4M of it due within a year

$2,068 of local taxes per resident

California cities of the same size: $1,029

$246.0M collected in FY2024

$834 in FY2003

FY2024 accounts, all the city's funds. Per resident: amount divided by the population (U.S. Census Bureau, Census of Governments). “Of the same size”: median of the 20 California cities closest in population (105,868 to 134,211 residents).

Understanding these figures

What this page covers

All the city's own funds, actual spending, as it reports it to the State Controller each year: the general and special funds, capital outlay and debt service, and each business the city runs (water, sewer, electricity, airport, port, transit, hospital). The internal service fund, which re-spends what departments already paid it, and depreciation, an accounting charge rather than money spent, are left out. California collects no voted budgets.

How is the comparison with cities of the same size made?

The 20 cities of California closest in population (105,868 to 134,211 residents) are ranked from lowest to highest, and the one in the middle is taken (the median). Being above or below says nothing about good or bad: it depends on what each city runs itself. A city with its own power or water utility spends and collects more.

Where do these figures come from?

California State Controller's Office — Cities Annual Report (By the Numbers). The state's records ↗ Population: U.S. Census Bureau, Census of Governments (population reported with the unit), 2024 file. Qipu changes no amount.

Elected officials and staff of Berkeley: to report a figure to correct or add context, write to Qipu.

Compare with Fairfield or with another California city:

Page published by Qipu, independent of the town · Sources and method

California State Controller's Office — Cities Annual Report (By the Numbers) · U.S. Census Bureau, Census of Governments (population reported with the unit) · FY2024. The method · See the source