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California · 141,874 residents

Fullerton

$237.9 million spent in FY2024.

$1,677 per resident · California cities of the same size: $2,146

Fullerton’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

$31.0M of capital outlay in FY2024, $218 per resident.

  • Other expenditures$30.4M
  • Public safety$540k
  • Culture and leisure$56k

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: $256.4M · spending: $237.9M.

Revenue by source

  • Local taxes39%$101.1M

    Secured and unsecured property taxes $38.4M · Sales and use taxes $29.3M · Property tax in-lieu of vehicle license fees $17.7M

  • Fees, charges and utility sales38%$96.7M

    Water enterprise fund $50.2M · Sales of refuse $14.8M · Other charges for current services $8.8M

  • Aid from other governments16%$39.8M

    Other federal grants $14.8M · Other state grants $13.2M · Gasoline tax $7.6M

  • Interest, rents and other revenue5%$14.1M

    Investment income $4.4M · Rents, Leases, and concessions $4.1M · Water enterprise fund $2.4M

  • Licenses, permits and fines2%$4.6M

    Forfeitures and penalties $2.1M · Construction permits $1.7M · Other licenses and permits $492k

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

$256 of debt per resident

California cities of the same size: $1,098

$36.3M owed in total at the end of FY2024, $3.0M of it due within a year

$712 of local taxes per resident

California cities of the same size: $1,040

$101.1M collected in FY2024

$285 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 (119,338 to 163,463 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 (119,338 to 163,463 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), 2023 file. Qipu changes no amount.

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

Compare with Torrance 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