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California · 88,235 residents

Merced

$154.4 million spent in FY2024.

$1,750 per resident · California cities of the same size: $1,822

Merced’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

$10.7M of capital outlay in FY2024, $121 per resident.

  • Health$4.7M
  • Transportation$3.5M
  • Culture and leisure$2.0M
  • General government$226k
  • Community development$137k
  • Public safety$122k

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: $218.4M · spending: $154.4M.

Revenue by source

  • Fees, charges and utility sales43%$92.9M

    Sewer enterprise fund $26.2M · Solid waste enterprise fund $24.6M · Water enterprise fund $19.3M

  • Local taxes27%$59.9M

    Sales and use taxes $31.0M · Secured and unsecured property taxes $10.2M · Property tax in-lieu of vehicle license fees $9.4M

  • Aid from other governments16%$34.6M

    Other state grants $15.9M · Other federal grants $9.0M · Gasoline tax $4.9M

  • Interest, rents and other revenue13%$27.8M

    Investment income $7.3M · Development impact fees $6.8M · Water enterprise fund $4.1M

  • Licenses, permits and fines1%$3.2M

    Construction permits $1.8M · Other fines $565k · Streets and curb permits $336k

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

$198 of debt per resident

California cities of the same size: $896

$17.5M owed in total at the end of FY2024, $4.0M of it due within a year

$679 of local taxes per resident

California cities of the same size: $954

$59.9M collected in FY2024

$197 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 (83,261 to 93,535 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 (83,261 to 93,535 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 Merced: to report a figure to correct or add context, write to Qipu.

Compare with Citrus Heights 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