Which Bay Area Cities Need to Improve Their Fiscal Status?

Commentary The state of California has 58 counties and 482 cities. To provide manageable fiscal rankings, I’ve divided the state into eight regions, closely following the districts established by Caltrans. The Bay Area, Caltrans District 4, has 101 cities. The rankings for 2020 are compared to those of 2019 in the graph below. For an explanation of the 2019 rankings, please see “Largest Bay Area Cities Rank Poorly on Financial Health” from Oct. 19, 2023. The methodology is rather simple. In reviewing the annual comprehensive financial reports for every city, I take their unrestricted net position for governmental activities and divide it by the city’s population. This provides a per capita and generates a range. Ideally, cities should have a positive per capita. But due to taking on generous defined benefit pension and retiree medical plans, nearly two-thirds are in negative territory....