City spending per resident

Spending pays for services; whether it should rise or fall is a policy choice. The change is 22.5% of the earlier value, at or above the 5% threshold.

Total expenses of $333.3 million for 103,888 residents in 2025 ($3,208 each), compared with $3,001 in 2024 (+6.9%) and $2,251 in 2021. After inflation (Victoria consumer price index), 2021 spending per resident equals $2,618 in 2025 dollars (+22.5% since 2021).

Outcome measures read Better, Worse or About the same; published government targets read Ahead of, On or Behind target; value-judgement measures read Rising, Falling or Steady in a neutral colour. A change smaller than the agency's own margin of error, or otherwise smaller than 5% of the earlier value, is About the same (or Steady). No change is calculated across a marked break in a series. The rule.

Why it matters. It puts the City budget on a per-person scale that can be followed over time. It does not measure what the spending achieved.

• Calculated here: total expenses from the City's audited consolidated statements, divided by the population figure printed in the same report (BC Stats estimate).
• Expenses are on an accrual basis and include amortization of roads, buildings and equipment, police, and the water and sewer utilities. Capital spending is not counted directly.
• Comparisons between cities need care: services provided by the City in Victoria may be provided by the region or the Province elsewhere.
• The inflation-adjusted line uses Statistics Canada's annual average price index for Victoria.

Spending per resident by service, in 2025 dollars

Expenses by Function from the Annual Report 2025 Statistics section, divided by the population in the same report, adjusted with the Victoria consumer price index. The report says: “Protective Services is comprised of four different functions, including the City’s Emergency Management Division, Fire, Police and Bylaw Services.” It also says: “Certain comparative information has been reclassified to conform to financial statement presentation for the adopted current year.” Compare 2021 with later years with care.

Area: City of Victoria

The City of Victoria municipality only, all neighbourhoods.

Included

• All City of Victoria neighbourhoods, including Downtown, James Bay, Fairfield, Fernwood, Oaklands, Hillside/Quadra, North Park, Burnside, Victoria West, Rockland, Jubilee and Gonzales

Not included

• Saanich, Oak Bay, Esquimalt, Langford and every other municipality in the region

Official definition

• City of Victoria: Neighbourhood Boundaries (open data map)

How the agency describes it: City of Victoria (municipality).

This figure is public but not under an open licence: the agency publishes it for anyone to read, and it is shown here with credit and a link to the agency’s terms. About licences.

Calculated here from public data; see “How we calculated it”.

Calculated here from

City of Victoria (Annual Report), Statistics Canada

Licences

Open Government Licence - Canada
Public data, not under an open licence. Used with attribution. Terms: City of Victoria (Annual Report)

Period

Calendar years 2021 to 2025

Updated

Annually (audited report published mid-year)

Retrieved

Nov 11, 2026, 9:45 PM B.C. time

Details

Formula and every input

Adapted from Statistics Canada, table 18-10-0005-01. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.