Borrowing from capital markets has a long history in U.S. urban government. With federal authorities withdrawing fiscal support since the 1980s, U.S. cities have become more entrepreneurial and increased their reliance on borrowing. Some now claim that this reliance has grown since the Great Recession. Despite the significance of borrowing to U.S. urban governments, municipal indebtedness remains a relatively understudied topic within geography. This article examines post–Great Recession indebtedness changes (2006–2016) in the general funds of U.S. municipalities. We show that general fund indebtedness has not generally increased since the Great Recession, although a complex landscape of divergent borrowing and indebtedness is evident across cities with different populations. The article uses the Government Finance Database to collect and analyze U.S. Census Bureau data on municipal debt and budget health. We conclude by discussing the need to develop existing theories of postrecession urban governance to examine emerging debt and budgetary challenges across U.S. municipalities.

在美国城市政府中，从资本市场借贷具有悠久的历史。自1980年代以来，随着联邦政府撤回财政支持，美国城市变得更具企业家精神，并越来越依赖借贷。现在有人声称，自从大萧条以来，这种依赖有所增加。尽管向美国城市政府借贷具有重要意义，但市政债务仍然是地理学中相对未被研究的话题。本文研究了美国市政总资金中的大萧条后债务变化（2006-2016年）。我们显示，自大萧条以来，一般资金负债并未普遍增加，尽管在不同人口的城市中，借贷与负债之间存在复杂的格局。本文使用政府财务数据库来收集和分析美国人口普查局有关市政债务和预算健康状况的数据。最后，我们讨论了发展现有的衰退后城市治理理论的必要性，以研究美国各市正在出现的债务和预算挑战。