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California · 126,930 residents

Santa Clara

$1.1 billion spent in FY2024.

$8,880 per resident · California cities of the same size: $1,821

Santa Clara’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

$31.1M of capital outlay in FY2024, $245 per resident.

  • Transportation$17.5M
  • Culture and leisure$9.5M
  • General government$3.9M
  • Public safety$300k

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: $1.5B · spending: $1.1B.

Revenue by source

  • Fees, charges and utility sales71%$1.1B

    Electric enterprise fund $741.5M · Other enterprise fund $110.2M · Water enterprise fund $57.1M

  • Local taxes13%$196.7M

    Secured and unsecured property taxes $61.7M · Sales and use taxes $60.9M · Transient occupancy taxes $22.3M

  • Interest, rents and other revenue11%$166.5M

    Electric enterprise fund $65.4M · Investment income $27.8M · Sewer enterprise fund $27.7M

  • Aid from other governments4%$51.9M

    Other taxes in-lieu $33.1M · Gasoline tax $7.0M · Other federal grants $5.4M

  • Licenses, permits and fines1%$15.3M

    Construction permits $12.5M · Other fines $2.3M · Vehicle code fines $476k

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

$3,094 of debt per resident

California cities of the same size: $931

$392.7M owed in total at the end of FY2024, $25.4M of it due within a year

$1,550 of local taxes per resident

California cities of the same size: $1,029

$196.7M collected in FY2024

$492 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 (111,605 to 143,966 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 (111,605 to 143,966 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 Santa Clara: to report a figure to correct or add context, write to Qipu.

Compare with Simi Valley 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