Financial transaction records for expenditures across California cities span 22 fiscal years from 2002-03 to 2023-24. The dataset is published by the State of California Controller's Office via the ByTheNumbers platform. It details spending categorized by entity, location, and purpose.
Use Cases
- Analyze spending trends by 'City' and 'Category' over 'Fiscal Year' to identify budget shifts.
- Model 'Estimated Population' against 'Value' of expenditures to assess per-capita spending efficiency.
- Cluster cities using 'Subcategory 1', 'Subcategory 2', and 'County' to find similar fiscal profiles.
- Predict 'Type' of expenditure based on 'Entity Name', 'Category', and fiscal year data.
Strengths
- Covers 22 consecutive fiscal years from 2002-03 to 2023-24.
- Includes 15 detailed columns for transaction categorization and geographic context.
Limitations
- Unknown total row count prevents assessment of statistical significance for smaller cities.
- Lacks sample data, making initial data quality and null value patterns unclear.
Provenance
- Source
- State of California Controller's Office (bythenumbers.sco.ca.gov).
- Collection Method
- Reported city financial transactions for the finance application.
- Time Range
- 2002-03 to 2023 24 fiscal years.
- Freshness
- Updated as of October 30, 2025.
- Geography
- Cities within the state of California, USA.