Skip to main content

California · 43,601 residents

El Centro

$245.2 million spent in FY2024.

$5,623 per resident · California cities of the same size: $1,945

El Centro’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

$30.4M of capital outlay in FY2024, $698 per resident.

  • Transportation$22.4M
  • General government$4.5M
  • Public safety$2.9M
  • Culture and leisure$697k

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: $253.7M · spending: $245.2M.

Revenue by source

  • Fees, charges and utility sales73%$184.1M

    Hospital enterprise fund $160.6M · Sewer enterprise fund $10.5M · Water enterprise fund $9.0M

  • Local taxes18%$44.9M

    Sales and use taxes $25.6M · Transportation taxes – nontransit $5.7M · Property tax in-lieu of vehicle license fees $5.4M

  • Interest, rents and other revenue7%$17.8M

    Hospital enterprise fund $10.1M · Investment income $4.4M · Other revenue from use of money and property $1.3M

  • Aid from other governments3%$6.5M

    Other county grants $3.8M · Gasoline tax $1.2M · Other state grants $1.1M

  • Licenses, permits and fines< 1%$422k

    Construction permits $367k · Forfeitures and penalties $55k

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

$4,717 of debt per resident

California cities of the same size: $476

$205.7M owed in total at the end of FY2024, $6.6M of it due within a year

$1,030 of local taxes per resident

California cities of the same size: $907

$44.9M collected in FY2024

$303 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 (39,515 to 47,589 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 (39,515 to 47,589 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), 2022 file. Qipu changes no amount.

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

Compare with Lompoc 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