As they prepare for a final vote on Miami’s budget for the coming fiscal year, commissioners wanted to know how the city’s employee costs stack up against other big Florida cities. And the winner is…
At Miami’s first budget hearing this month, Miami District 3 Commissioner Rolando Escalona had a question.
With roughly three-quarters of Miami’s $1.3 billion General Fund budget going to salaries, pensions, health insurance and other employee costs, how does that compare with other Florida cities?
City administrators offered comparisons with Tampa and Orlando, but Escalona wanted more, asking City Manager James Reyes to report back with an expanded list of cities.
But the Spotlight couldn’t wait.
With the second and final vote on the city’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year set for Thursday, we did it for him.
We examined the proposed 2026-27 budgets of Florida’s six largest cities and calculated how much of each city’s main operating fund — known as the General Fund — would go toward personnel.
The answer: We’re No. 1! — or at least tied for it.
Miami and Tampa would each spend roughly 77% of their General Fund budgets on personnel next year, when rounded to the nearest whole percentage point.
Then the numbers fall off. A lot.
St. Petersburg would spend 69% of its General Fund on personnel. Orlando: 62%. Jacksonville: 59%. Port St. Lucie: 58%.
Across the six cities, an average of about 67% of General Fund spending would go toward personnel. Put another way, if Miami budgeted that average for personnel next year, it would spend about $127 million less.
Here are Florida’s six largest cities, ranked by the percentage of their General Fund budgets devoted to personnel:
| City | FY 2026-27 General Fund | Personnel costs | Share |
| Miami | $1.30 billion | $993.6 million | 77% |
| Tampa | $731.3 million | $562.9 million | 77% |
| St. Petersburg | $437.3 million | $299.6 million | 69% |
| Orlando | $779.9 million | $480.7 million | 62% |
| Jacksonville | $2.03 billion | $1.19 billion | 59% |
| Port St. Lucie | $230.6 million | $133.9 million | 58% |
So what goes into Miami’s 77%?
Of Miami’s proposed $1.3 billion General Fund, $609.2 million would go to salaries and wages and another $384.4 million to employee benefits, for a combined $993.6 million — or 77%.
In other words, about $77 of every $100 Miami plans to spend from its General Fund next year would go toward its employees and the benefits associated with employing them.
The other $23 would pay for everything else.
Escalona asked for more comparisons.
Now he has them.
Editor’s note: The Spotlight reviewed the proposed or recommended fiscal 2026-27 budgets of Florida’s six largest cities and calculated personnel costs as a percentage of each city’s General Fund. Personnel costs include salaries and wages, overtime where separately reported, pensions and employer-paid benefits. All figures are from fiscal 2026-27 budgeted amounts, not future-year projections, and percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number.
For a deeper dive, read the Spotlight’s three-part series on the City of Miami’s budget:
Read more: Miami’s Billion-Dollar Boom, Part 1: Where Did All the Money Go?
Read more: Miami’s Billion-Dollar Boom, Part 2: The Rising Cost of Public Safety
Read more: Miami’s Billion-Dollar Boom, Part 3: City Hall’s Growing Payroll
Looking at city budgets on a per-resident basis tells a different story than simply comparing total budgets or the percentage spent on personnel. Miami spends approximately $2,654 per resident from its General Fund, including about $2,029 per resident for personnel. Orlando spends $2,336 per resident, with $1,440 going to personnel. Jacksonville, despite having more than 1 million residents, spends about $2,010 per resident, including $1,169 for personnel. Tampa spends $1,768 per resident, while St. Petersburg spends $1,656.
Port St. Lucie stands out at approximately $860 in General Fund spending per resident, with about $500 going toward personnel.
These numbers don’t by themselves determine whether one city is more efficiently run than another, since cities have different responsibilities, services, labor costs and governmental structures. But viewing spending per resident provides a useful perspective that percentage-of-budget figures alone can hide.